Background
Paul Müller was born on January 12, 1899, at Olten, Switzerland.
His father, Gottlieb Muller, was an official of the Swiss Federal Railways and his mother was Fanny Leopold.
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Handbuch Der Blütenbiologie: Unter Zugrundelegung Von Hermann Müllers Werk: "Die Befruchtung Der Blumen Durch Insekten"; Volumes 2-3 Of Handbuch Der Blütenbiologie: Unter Zugrundelegung Von Hermann Müllers Werk:"Die Befruchtung Der Blumen Durch Insekten"; Ernst Loew Paul Knuth, Otto Appel, Hermann Müller Ernst Loew W. Engelmann, 1905 Science; Life Sciences; Botany; Fertilization of plants; Science / Life Sciences / Botany
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Paul Müller was born on January 12, 1899, at Olten, Switzerland.
His father, Gottlieb Muller, was an official of the Swiss Federal Railways and his mother was Fanny Leopold.
After moving to Basel, Muller attended a primary school.
He attended the ‘Freie Evangelische Volsschule’ elementary and secondary schools later.
Convinced that chemistry was his future, he joined the Basel University in 1919.
Paul Hermann Müller received his PhD from the University in April, 1925, for a thesis on the oxidation of ‘m-xylidine’ and its derivatives. He also studied physical chemistry and botany at the university.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Thessalonica in recognition of his discovery of the new form of DDT which was used effectively in the Mediterranean countries.
After receiving his PhD Muller joined as a research chemist in the dye division of the firm ‘J. R. Geigy’ which produced synthetic dyes, plant-based dyes and tanning agents that were available in nature. He remained with this company for the rest of his life.
In 1930 he developed synthetic tanning agents and dyes which remained fast under sunlight.
In 1935 he started a study on insecticides that could affect insects coming into contact with them. He stressed upon the various criteria of a perfect insecticide that would make it cheap, highly stable for long periods, prove highly potent against all types of insects without causing any harm to plants, animals or humans.
In 1937 he developed and patented a method for producing insecticides out of synthetic cyanate and rhodanide based compounds.
He also developed a mercury-free seed disinfectant called Graminone which benefited the Swiss farmers a great deal at the time.
In 1939 Muller developed DDT or ‘dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane’ which did not have much use since it was first discovered in 1873. Till that time all insecticides were either natural which were very expensive or synthetic which were ineffective. The effective insecticides available till then were Arsenic based and were equally poisonous to humans, animals and plants.
Muller got a Swiss patent for it in 1940 and production of DDT was started by Geigy. He also got a British patent in 1942 and an American patent in 1943 after which the production of insecticide started in both the countries in real earnest.
It was first tested on the Colorado potato beetle in 1943 by both the US and the Swiss governments with great success.
It was successfully used to stop a typhus epidemic in Naples, Italy in 1943. Over the years the insecticide started showing signs of other toxicities harmful to animals and humans and its used was drastically reduced.
Muller later became the deputy chairman of J. R. Geigy and the director of research in its pesticide division.
In 1961 he retired from Geigy and carried out more experiments at the laboratory set up at his Oberswil home.
Paul Hermann Müller was remembered as a chemist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1948 for discovering the potent toxic effects on insects of DDT. With its chemical derivatives, DDT became the most widely used insecticide for more than 20 years and was a major factor in increased world food production and the suppression of insect-borne diseases.
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
Swiss Nature Research Society, Paris Society of Industrial Chemistry, Reale Accademia Internazionale del Parnaso, Academia Brasileira de Medicina Militar
Paul Hermann Müller was rememberd as an independent soul; a lone wolf.
Müller married Friedel Rüegsegger in 1927 and had two sons.
