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Historical Aspects of Chemistry

Wittig, Georg

German chemist, Nobel Prizewinner 1979 for the Wittig Reaction
Born: Berlin, 16 June, 1897
Died: 26 August, 1987

Wittig discovered his versatile route to alkenes via ylide molecules - the Wittig reaction - in 1949.

Educated originally at Tübingen, Wittig spent periods at Braunschweig, Freiburg, back to Tübingen again, before taking up the post as director of the organic chemistry department at Heidelberg where he became an emeritus professor in 1967, remaining there until the end of his career.

In 1967, he won the Otto Hahn Prize.

In 1979, Herbert C. Brown and Georg Wittig were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize:

for their development of the use of boron- and phosphorus-containing compounds, respectively, into important reagents in organic synthesis.

See this page at Heidelberg for a picture and some more biographical details (in German).

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Ol' Spidey: page last changed 5 April 1997