Background
Richard Johann Kuhn was born on December 3, 1900, in Vienna, Austria. He was the son of Richard Clemens Kuhn and Angelika Rodler.
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
After three semesters at the University of Vienna Kuhn proceeded to the University of Munich, where his experimental genius soon became evident. In 1922 he obtained his Ph.D. under Willstätter and not long afterward received his docentship; he became widely known as Willstätter’s greatest discovery.
1934
Kuhn received the Adolf-von-Baeyer Gold Medal in 1934.
1937
Kuhn received the Cothenius Medal in 1937.
1938
Kuhn received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938.
1942
Kuhn received the Goethe Prize in 1942.
1944
Kuhn received the Emil-von-Behring-Prize in 1944.
1952
Kuhn received the Wilhelm Exner Medal in 1952.
1958
Kuhn received the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 1958.
1961
Kuhn received the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art in 1961.
1962
Kuhn received the Centenary Prize in 1962.
Döbling Gymnasium, Vienna, Austria
Kuhn was taught by his mother until he entered the Döbling Gymnasium at the age of nine, where he remained for eight years until drafted into the army.
University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
In 1918, Kuhn entered the University of Vienna.
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
After three semesters at the University of Vienna Kuhn proceeded to the University of Munich, where his experimental genius soon became evident. In 1922 he obtained his Ph.D. under Willstätter and not long afterward received his docentship; he became widely known as Willstätter’s greatest discovery.
A photo of Richard Johann Kuhn.
A photo of Richard Johann Kuhn.
A photo of Richard Johann Kuhn.
A photo of Richard Johann Kuhn.
Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin, Germany
Kuhn was a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences.
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Halle, Germany
Kuhn was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Heidelberg Academy for Sciences and Humanities, Heidelberg, Germany
Kuhn was a member of the Heidelberg Academy for Sciences and Humanities.
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Munich, Germany
Kuhn was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Richard Johann Kuhn was born on December 3, 1900, in Vienna, Austria. He was the son of Richard Clemens Kuhn and Angelika Rodler.
Kuhn was taught by his mother until he entered the Döbling Gymnasium at the age of nine, where he remained for eight years. He was also a schoolmate of Wolfgang Pauli. He then was drafted into the army. Four days after his release on November 18, 1918, he entered the University of Vienna. After three semesters he proceeded to the University of Munich, where his experimental genius soon became evident. In 1922 he obtained his Ph.D. under Willstätter and not long afterward received his docentship; he became widely known as Willstätter’s greatest discovery.
In 1926 Kuhn moved to Zurich to become a professor of chemistry at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. In 1929 he was appointed a director of the new Chemistry Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research at Heidelberg and professor at the university, where he remained for the rest of his life, notwithstanding later offers from Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and the United States.
In 1937 Kuhn became director of the entire Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research, and in 1946-1948 helped to transform the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Scientific Research into the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. He was a charter member of the society’s senate and later served as vice-president under Otto Hahn and then Adolf Butenandt.
Kuhn at first rejected his Nobel Prize because of political matters. In a hand-written letter, he even described the awarding of the prize to a German as an invitation to violate a decree of the Führer.
Kuhn collaborated with high-ranking Nazi officials and denounced three of his Jewish co-workers in 1936. In 2005, the Society of German Chemists declared their intention to no longer award the Richard Kuhn Medal: “The board of the GDCh intends to discontinue awarding the Medal named after the organic chemist, Nobel Prize laureate of the year 1938 and President of the GDCh in 1964-1965, Richard Kuhn. The board thereby draws the consequences out of research on Richard Kuhn’s behavior during National Socialism. Even though the question of whether Kuhn was a convinced National Socialist or just a career-oriented camp follower is not fully answered, he undisputably supported the Nazi-regime in administrative and organizational ways, especially by his scientific work. Despite his scientific achievements, Kuhn is not suitable to serve as a role model, and eponym for an important award, mainly due to his unreflected research on poison gas, but also due to his conduct towards Jewish colleagues.”
Kuhn's doctoral thesis, On the Specificity of Enzymes in Carbohydrate Metabolism and Mechanism of Action of Amylases, dealt with greatly improved enzyme adsorption and elution carrier materials and kinetic enzyme measurements applied to a variety of sugar derivatives (glycosides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides). Specificity problems led him inevitably to problems in optical stereochemistry that preoccupied him for the rest of his life. He began research on additions on ethylene bonds; thus, addition of hypochlorous acid to fumaric or maleic acid resulted in chloromalic acid and also in ring closure to form ethylene oxide dicarboxylic acid. This work led in Zurich to studies on inhibited rotation among diphenyls, especially ortho-substituted derivatives. Kuhn, like Pasteur, had early dominating experiences with different forms of isomerism, and, like van’t Hoff, had a remarkable understanding of stereoisomerism.
With further studies on the activation energies of rotation among ortho-substituted diphenyls, Kuhn and his collaborators arrived at quantitative concepts of the spatial needs of particular groups, including the concept of “atropisomerism,” long before the terms “conformation” and “constellation” gained acceptance and applicability not only to substituted compounds but also to totally unsubstituted ones as in trans-cycloocten.
Proceeding to the preparation of diphenylpolyenes containing conjugated double bonds, added in unbroken order, Kuhn and his collaborators showed that the diphenyls were colorless when n = 1 or 2, but colored for n = 3 to 15. They thereby definitely established the existence of colored hydro-carbons. Research on crocetin, bixin, and, most important, carotene demonstrated that Kuhn-type polyenes are found in nature. Work on carotene proved that symmetrical provitamin A yields two molecules of water.
Kuhn next attacked water-soluble vitamins. He showed vitamin B2, isolated and crystallized from milk and named lactoflavin, to be part of Warburg’s yellow enzyme; and he synthesized and structurally identified the vitamin. He prepared lactoflavin phosphate and, after combining it with the protein carrier of the yellow enzyme, he found it to be enzymatically identical with the reversible yellow oxidation enzyme, and that identifiable intermediate stages displayed free radical paramagnetism and dimerism. Kuhn then identified vitamin B6, /t-aminobenzoic acid, and pantothenic acid and synthesized numerous analogues and reversibly competitive inhibitors.
From the 1950s on Kuhn worked on and identified various “resistance” factors effective against infection - nitrogenous oligosaccharides isolated from human milk; brain gangliosides; and potato alkaloid-glycoside, active against larvae of potato beetles. Of especial interest was the finding that lactaminyl oligosaccharides could be split by influenza virus and also by the receptor-destroying enzyme of cholera vibrio. Lactaminyl oligosaccharide was recognized as a receptor for influenza virus; therefore, the virus-inhibiting action of human milk was explained: cells that do not form lactaminyl-oligosaccharide structures on their surfaces show resistance to influenza virus. Some twenty-five papers on the isolation and synthesis of amino-sugar split products of N-oligosaccharides followed.
Like Pasteur and Virtanen, Kuhn developed over the years intense interest in applications of his academic researches to medicine and agriculture. At the end of World War II Kuhn demonstrated experimentally to a U.S. Army colonel’s wife that she could turn green plants into red plants by adding triphenyltetrazolium chloride to the nutrient medium, and so the institute was spared molestation.
Kuhn was a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Heidelberg Academy for Sciences and Humanities, and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Kuhn was known for his major scientific traits, discipline and precision coupled with imagination and fantasy.
In 1928 Kuhn married Daisy Hartmann; they had two sons and four daughters.