Emil Abderhalden

Emil Abderhalden (March 9, 1877 – August 5, 1950) was a Swiss biochemist and physiologist. His main findings, though disputed already in the 1920s, were not finally rejected until the late 1990s. Whether his misleading findings were based on fraud or simply the result of a lack of scientific rigor remains unclear. Abderhalden's drying pistol, used in chemistry, was first described by one of his students in a textbook Abderhalden edited.

Emil Abderhalden was born in Oberuzwil in the Canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Abderhalden studied medicine at the University of Basel and received his doctorate in 1902. He then studied in the laboratory of Emil Fischer and worked at the University of Berlin. In 1911 he moved to the University of Halle and taught physiology in the medical school. From 1931 to 1950, he was president of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina. In 1936 he was appointed member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

During World War I, he established a children's hospital and organized the removal of malnourished children to Switzerland. Subsequently, he resumed his research into physiological chemistry and began to study metabolism and food chemistry.

After World War II Abderhalden returned to Switzerland and got a position at the University of Zurich. He died there at age 73. The minor planet 15262 Abderhalden was named in his honour.

Abderhalden is known for a blood test for pregnancy, a test for cystine in urine, and for explaining the Abderhalden–Kaufmann–Lignac syndrome, a recessive genetic condition. He did extensive work in the analysis of proteins, polypeptides, and enzymes. His Abwehrfermente ("defensive enzymes") theory stated that immunological challenge will induce production of proteases. This was seemingly "proven" by many collaborators in Europe, although attempts to verify the theory abroad failed.

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