János Kabay

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János Kabay's tomb in the Farkasréti cemetery in Budapest

János Kabay (born December 27, 1896 in Büdszentmihály , † January 29, 1936 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian chemist and pharmacist . He did research in the field of alkaloids and developed a new form of extraction of morphine from poppy plants .

Life

Kabay attended high school in Nyíregyháza , Nagykálló and Hajdúnánás , where he graduated. In 1915 he began studying chemical engineering at the Technical University in Budapest , but was called up for military service shortly after the start of the First World War . After the war, he first worked in a pharmacy and then resumed his studies at the Péter Pázmány University in 1920 , where he graduated as a pharmacist in 1923 with his teacher Lajos Winkler . Then worked for his brother Péter Kabay in his pharmacy in Hajdúnánás, where he began to research morphine. During this time he met the chemist Ilona Kelp, his future wife, with whom he worked from then on. In the mid-1920s, Kabay succeeded in developing a process that made it possible to extract morphine not only from the heads of poppy plants, but also from the dried poppy straw. In 1927 he founded the company Alkaloida Vegyészeti Gyárat in Büdszentmihály, today's Tiszavasvári , which was mainly dedicated to the production of morphine. In 1935 the company opened a subsidiary in Poland . Shortly afterwards, Kabay died in Budapest in 1936 at the age of 39. After the Second World War , the company he founded was nationalized and in 1968 was one of the world's leading companies in morphine production.

Appreciation

In Hungary streets, pharmacies and schools were named after him in his honor.

literature

  • John J. Kabay: János Kabay: the life of an inventor , 1990
  • John J. Kabay: Kabay János magyar feltaláló élete , Alkaloida Vegyészeti Gyár Rt., 1992

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kabay, János
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian chemist and pharmacist
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Büdszentmihály
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1936
Place of death Budapest