Fritz Kögl

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Fritz Kögl (born September 19, 1897 in Munich , † June 6, 1959 in Utrecht ) was a German chemist and university professor .

Life

Kögl studied chemistry at the TH Munich, among others with Heinrich Otto Wieland , with whom he was a scientific assistant from 1920 and in 1921 with the work Further investigations on derivatives of tetravalent nitrogen for Dr.-Ing. received his doctorate . From 1921 to 1926 he worked for Hans Fischer at the TH Munich. From 1925 he was a private lecturer for organic chemistry at the TH Munich, from 1926 at the University of Göttingen . In 1931 he became full professor of organic chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Utrecht . In 1934 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . Since 1936 he was a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and since 1949 of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . During the Second World War he supported the Dutch resistance and was therefore able to continue his career in Utrecht.

Kögl discovered there along with Hanni Erxleben and Arie Jan Haagen-Smit , the plant growth hormone auxin (from them Heteroauxin called and with whatever Kenneth V. Thimann discovered indole-3-acetic acid , however, the same), this unfortunately by a concatenation of circumstances interpreted incorrectly. According to another interpretation, forgery on the part of adult life was already involved - samples of the substances in question auxin a and auxin b (which could not be found in other laboratories), which were examined after Kögl's death (Kögl himself suggested that his successor JFG Vliegenthart should examine them again), the substances he published did not contain, among other things, cholic acid. Kögl and Erxleben had also discovered the actual auxin (and called it heteroauxin). Together with his doctoral student Benno Tönnis, Kögl also presented biotin in its pure form for the first time . Erxleben's sole fault for the forgeries (and whether the auxin finds were at all) was questioned by some authors and the way in which Kögl headed his laboratory in the Netherlands, conceded considerable complicity. He had an authoritarian leadership style and did not take part in the actual laboratory work, which he had students and assistants do. The auxin research led to a long series of publications by Kögl in the Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie, where Kögl was co-editor.

In 1939, Kögl and his colleague Hanni Erxleben published a sensational work on stereochemical changes in proteins in tumor tissues. When examining animal and human tumor tissues , they noticed an increased proportion of D -amino acids in their samples. The amount of D- glutamic acid in particular was significantly increased. Since proteins are built up by L- amino acids during protein biosynthesis , this discovery would have been of great importance for both the diagnosis and treatment of cancer . Some research groups in the USA and England tried to reproduce the experiments published by Kögl as early as 1940. The results could not be confirmed by the studies of these other scientists. In Germany, too, the results could not be verified by repeating the experiments in 1944. At the beginning of the 1950s it became clear that the investigations had been influenced by Kögls (Erxleben). She had bought D- glutamic acid from IG Farben and then mixed it into the experimental batches. Despite the obviously manipulated results, Kögl did not withdraw the work. This isolated him from his peers and increasingly challenged his scientific integrity. Kögl suffered from depression for years because of the scandal . No obituary appeared in the Chemical Reports after his death .

Kögl was divorced and had two daughters.

He was a knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, received the Emil Fischer Medal in 1933 , the Swedish Scheele Medal in 1936 and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry several times.

literature

  • Ilse Jahn (ed.): History of biology . 3rd expanded edition (paperback special edition). Nikol. Verlagsges. 2004
  • E. Havinga, Levensbericht F. Kögl , in: Jaarboek, 1959–1960, Amsterdam, pp. 311–316 (pdf; 427 kB)
  • James R. Troyer: Error or Fraud Science: Auxins A and B and animal tumor proteins , Journal of the North Carolina Academy of Science, Volume 124, 2008, SS 1-5
  • Fedor Lynen: Fritz Kögl , yearbook of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences 1959, p. 187/88, online

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b H.AM Snelders: Kögl, Fritz (1897–1959). In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. February 12, 2012, Retrieved November 18, 2012 (Dutch).
  2. ↑ Life data, publications and academic family tree of Fritz Kögl at academictree.org, accessed on February 24, 2018.
  3. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 135.
  4. ↑ Fritz Kögl, AJ Haagen-Smit, Hanni Erxleben: About a new auxin (heteroauxin) from urine . 11. Communication on plant growth substances. In: Z. Physiol. Chemistry . tape 228 , 1934, pp. 90-103 ( online [accessed November 18, 2012]).
  5. ^ Heinrich Zankl : Forgers, swindlers, charlatans - fraud in research and science . Weinheim: Wiley-VCH 2003.
  6. ↑ Eberhard Schnepff forgeries - not only in our time , Biology in our time, Volume 32, 2002, p. 164f
  7. ↑ Fritz Kögl, W. van Hasselt: About the occurrence of biotin in the animal organism . 22. Communication on Vegetable Growth Substances. In: Hoppe-Seyler's journal for physiological chemistry . tape 243 , 1936, pp. 189–194 ( online [accessed November 18, 2012]).
  8. ^ Troyer, J. North Carolina Acad., Vol. 124, 2008, p. 4
  9. ↑ Troyer, 2008, p. 4, quoting Kenneth V. Thimann.
  10. ↑ Fritz Kögl, Hanni Erxleben: On the etiology of malignant tumors . 1. Communication on the chemistry of tumors. In: Hoppe-Seyler's journal for physiological chemistry . tape 258 , 1939, pp. 57-95 ( online [accessed November 18, 2012]).
  11. ^ Ute Deichmann : Protein research at Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes from 1930 to 1950 in an international comparison. (pdf; 1.1 MB) 2004, accessed on November 18, 2012 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kögl, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1959
Place of death Utrecht