Buchner, Hans

Buchner, Eduard Buchner, Hans and Hahn, Martin. Die Zymasegahrung (Oldenbourg, Munich, 1903). 

Wohler s preparation of urea from ammonium cyanate, which could in principle be derived totally from inorganic constituents, is cited as an early demonstration (1828) that living cells were not obligatorily required for the synthesis of natural products. I can prepare urea without requiring a kidney or an animal—either man or dog. Three years after the death of Pasteur the finding by Hans and Edouard Buchner (1897) that fermentation still occured in a cell-free extract from yeast and so did not require the presence of organized cells, was virtually the final nail in the coffin for vitalism and an essential preliminary to the study of intermediary metabolism (Chapter 4). 

Eduard Buchner s elder brother Hans was a rather impressive figure. Carl Harries, who was one of the guests at Eduard s wedding where he met Hans, described him as a very tall and fine-looking man with grave but friendly eyes, eminently eloquent and in every way very different from Eduard. Apparently, compared to his elder brother, Eduard seemed much more unassuming, not to say insignificant. It is easy to understand that he looked up to his brother and that Hans had a considerable influence over him. 

Our understanding of glucose metabolism, especially glycolysis, has a rich history. Indeed, the development of biochemistry and the delineation of glycolysis went hand in hand. A key discovery was made by Hans Buchner and Eduard Buchner in 1897, quite by accident. The Buchners... 

Eduard Buchner made substantial contributions not only to organic chemistry but also to biochemistry. About half of his 120 scientific publications are dedicated to his research in biochemistry, and in fact, he is regarded as one of the fathers of modem biochemistry. In 1897, Eduard Buchner (together with his brother Hans Buchner) discovered quite by accident that fermentation could occur outside living cells, thus disproving a long held belief, asserted by Louis Pasteur in 1860, that fermentation is inextricably tied to living cells. His chance discovery, which opened the door to modem biochemistry, led him to the award of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1907. 

One of the outstanding achievements of biochemistry has been the elucidation of the sequence of chemical reactions and the isolation of the enz5nmes which are involved in the alcoholic fermentation of sugars by yeast. This story had its beginning in one of the historic experiments in plant science, the preparation of yeast press juice by Hans and Edward Buchner in 1897 and the demonstration that this juice could promote an active fermentation of sucrose. 

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