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On the 5th Anniversary of the Death of the Chemist Tadeus Reichstein
(20 July 1897 - 1 August 1996)

Portrait

Biography

Tadeus Reichstein was born on 20 July 1897 in Wloclawek (Poland) and grew up in Zurich. He studied in the natural sciences faculty of the ETH Zurich and worked under Hermann Staudinger to receive his doctorate in 1922. Following a period as assistant to Leopold Ruzicka, Reichstein was appointed professor of special anorganic and physiological chemistry at the ETH in 1937. In 1938, he moved to the University of Basel as Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. He gained special recognition for his work on the isolation of steroids in the adrenal cortex, particularly cortisone. In 1950, Reichstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for this research into hormones.

Film

In 1933, Reichstein discovered a five-step method for extracting vitamin C from glucose. Only the second step - the conversion of sorbitol into sorbose - caused problems. This was because the necessary oxidative fermentation process could only be carried out using natural bacteria. Fruit flies were to supply these bacteria. This is what Reichstein had to say about the problem in a 1986 interview:

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The film originates from the collection held in the Picture Archive (video produced by Hans Koch, Picture Archive, and Jens Keller, NET).

Holdings

DThe Rector's office at the ETH Zurich holds the doctoral theses of all students since 1855. These also include papers by Nobel Prize winner Tadeus Reichstein.

Several bequests held in the Archive of the ETH Zurich include correspondence from Tadeus Reichstein, as well as a biographical file featuring newspaper articles on his life and work. The Historical School Board Archive also contains references to Reichstein's work at the ETH. In both its the portrait collection and its Comet photo archive, the Picture Archiveof the ETH-Bibliothek owns several photographs of Reichstein, as well as the television interview shown here.

More

Title page of doctoral certificate
Handwritten letter to the Rector's office

NEBIS

Tadeus Reichstein's dissertations and postdoctoral lecturing qualification papers are held in the library.