Gerardus Johannes Mulder
Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox scientist
Gerardus Johannes Mulder or Gerrit Jan Mulder (27 December 1802 – 18 April 1880) was a Dutch organic and analytical chemist.
Life
Mulder was born in Utrecht and earned a medical degree from Utrecht University.<ref name=CPART>Template:Cite web</ref>
He became a reader of chemistry in Rotterdam<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> and in 1840 he was appointed professor at Utrecht University.<ref name="CPART" />
Protein
Following a suggestion by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Mulder used the term protein in his 1838 paper, "On the composition of some animal substances" (originally in French but translated in 1839 to German). In the same publication, he also proposed that animals draw most of their protein from plants.<ref name="Mulder1938">Bulletin des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles en Néerlande (1838). pg 104. SUR LA COMPOSITION DE QUELQUES SUBSTANCES ANIMALES</ref><ref name="Hartley">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Mulder "was the first to propose a theory concerning the causes of the differences between albumin, casein, and fibrin, and other substances more or less similar to them in physical properties and in their chemical behavior when exposed to reagents. Analyses of these substances showed that their percentage contribution with respect to carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen were so similar as to suggest that they contain one common radical."<ref>Elmer McCollum (1957) A History of Nutrition, chapter 4: Knowledge of Albuminous Substances, page 48 "The studies of Mulder on albuminous substances", Houghton-Mifflin</ref> This radical, a macromolecule, had formula <chem>C20 H31 N5 O12 ,</chem> and was known as protein. The variations in albuminous substances were attributed to peripheral bonds of protein to sulfur and/or phosphorus. Justus Liebig and his students sought to determine the structure of proteins, but until the methods of Emil Fischer and Franz Hofmeister became available, the amino acid decompositions were unknown.<ref>Hubert Bradford Vickery (1942) "Liebig and the Proteins", Journal of Chemical Education {{#invoke:CS1 identifiers|main|_template=doi}}</ref>
Augustus Voelcker was Mulder's assistant for a year from 1846.<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
In 1850, Mulder was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He died in Bennekom.
References
- Ihde, Aaron (1964) The Development of Modern Chemistry, Harper and Row, pages 359 and 423–424.
External links
- On the composition of some animal substances Translation of parts of Mulder's article from: Mikulás Teich, A Documentary History of Biochemistry, 1770-1940 (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1992)
Template:Cite journal