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Paul Hermann Müller

Paul Hermann Müller, also known as Pauly Mueller


(12 January 1899 – 13 October 1965), was a Swiss Paul Hermann Müller
chemist who received the 1948 Nobel prize in
Physiology or Medicine for his 1939 discovery of
insecticidal qualities and use of DDT in the control of
vector diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Early life and education


Müller was born on 12 January 1899 in Olten,
Solothurn, to Gottlieb and Fanny (née Leypoldt or
Leypold[1]) Müller.[2] He was the oldest of four
children.[1] His father worked for the Swiss Federal
Railways and the family first moved to Lenzburg in Born 12 January 1899
Aargau and then to Basel. Olten, Solothurn, Switzerland
Died 13 October 1965 (aged 66)
Müller went to the local primary school (volksschule)
Basel, Switzerland
and later to the lower and upper "realschule".[1] In that
time, he had a small laboratory where he developed Alma mater Universität Basel
photographic plates and built radio equipment.[1] Known for Insecticidal applications of
DDT
In 1916 he left school due to bad grades and started to
Awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or
work as a laboratory assistant at Dreyfus.[1] The next
Medicine (1948)
year he became an assistant chemist in the scientific-
Scientific career
industrial laboratory of the electrical plant of Lonza
A.G. Returning to school in 1918, he obtained his Fields Chemistry
secondary school diploma in 1919 and entered Basel Institutions J. R. Geigy AG
University in the same year. Doctoral Hans Rupe
advisor
At Basel University he studied chemistry (with a minor
in botany and physics[1]) and started to study inorganic
chemistry under Friedrich Fichter. In 1922 he continued his studies in the organic chemistry lab of Hans
Rupe.[1] While working for Rupe as assistant, he received his PhD writing a dissertation entitled Die
chemische und elektrochemische Oxidation des as. m-Xylidins und seines Mono- und Di-Methylderivates
(The Chemical and Electrochemical Oxidation of Asymmetrical m-Xylidene and its Mono- and Di-methyl
Derivatives) in 1925.[2][3] He graduated summa cum laude.[1]

Early work at Geigy


On 25 May 1925[1] Müller began working as a research chemist for the dye division of J. R. Geigy AG in
Basel. His first research topics at Geigy concerned synthetic and plant-derived dyes and natural tanning
agents. This work led to the production of the synthetic tanning agents Irgatan G, Irgatan FL and Irgatan
FLT.[1]

In 1935, Geigy began research on moth- and plant-protection agents and Müller was specifically
interested in plant protection. He said that his love for plants and nature in general, which led him to
choose botany as a minor subject at university, brought him to think about plant protection. Specifically,
he wanted to start synthesizing chemical plant protection agents himself.[1] In 1937, he patented a
technique for synthesizing novel rhodanide- and cyanate-based compounds which showed bactericide and
insecticide activity.[1] He then developed the product Graminone, a seed disinfectant which was safer
than the mercury-based disinfectants at the time.[2][3]

Synthesis of DDT
After his success with tanning agents and disinfectants, Müller was assigned to develop an insecticide.
"At that time," according to The World of Anatomy and Physiology, "the only available insecticides were
either expensive natural products or synthetics ineffective against insects; the only compounds that were
both effective and inexpensive were arsenic compounds, which were just as poisonous to human beings
and other mammals."[2]

During the course of his research, Müller found that insects absorbed chemicals differently than
mammals. This led him to believe it likely that there are chemicals toxic exclusively to insects. He sought
to "synthesize the ideal contact insecticide—one which would have a quick and powerful toxic effect
upon the largest possible number of insect species while causing little or no harm to plants and warm-
blooded animals." He also made it his goal to create an insecticide that was long-lasting and cheap to
produce, along with a high degree of chemical stability.[2]

In embracing this goal, Müller was motivated by two events. The first of these was a major food shortage
in Switzerland, which underscored the need for a better way to control the infestation of crops by insects.
The second was the typhus epidemic in Russia, which was the most extensive and lethal such epidemic in
history.[2] He began his search for his insecticide in 1935.

He studied all the data he could find on the subject of insecticides, decided which chemical properties the
kind of insecticide he was in search of would exhibit, and set out to find a compound that would suit his
purposes. Müller spent four years searching and failed 349 times before, in September 1939, he found the
compound he was looking for. He placed a fly in a cage laced with one particular compound, and short
while later, the fly died.[2]

The compound he had placed in the cage was dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), or, more precisely,
1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethane, which a Viennese pharmacologist named Othmar Zeidler
had first synthesized in 1874. Zeidler, while publishing a paper about his synthesis, had not investigated
the properties of the new compound, and had thus failed to recognize its extraordinary value as an
insecticide.
Müller quickly realized that DDT was the chemical he had been searching for. Tests of DDT by the Swiss
government and the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed its effectiveness against the Colorado
potato beetle. Further tests demonstrated its astonishing effectiveness against a wide range of pests,
including the mosquito, louse, flea, and sandfly, which, respectively, spread malaria, typhus, the plague,
and various tropical diseases.

Application of DDT
After taking out a Swiss patent on DDT in 1940 (a U.K. patent followed in 1942 and patents in the U.S.
and Australia in 1943), Geigy began to market two DDT-based products, a 5% dust called Gesarol spray
insecticide and a 3% dust called Neocid dust insecticide. The name DDT was first employed by the
British Ministry of Supply in 1943, and the product was added to U.S. Army supply lists in May of the
same year. It was also in 1943 that the first practical tests of DDT as a residual insecticide against adult
vector mosquitoes were carried out. The next year, in Italy, tests were performed in which residual DDT
was applied to the interior surfaces of all habitations and outbuildings of a community to test its effect on
Anopheles vectors and malaria incidence.

DDT saved the lives of millions during World War II.[4] Between the 1950s and 1970s, DDT helped
eradicate malaria entirely from many countries, the U.S. included.[4]

Later scientific career


Müller became Geigy's Deputy Director of Scientific Research on Substances for Plant Protection in
1946. In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, "for his discovery of the high
efficiency of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods."[3] The fact that he was accorded this
honour even though he was neither a physician nor a medical researcher reflected the immense impact
that DDT had had in the fight against human disease. The Nobel Committee said: "DDT has been used in
large quantities in the evacuation of concentration camps, of prisons and deportees. Without any doubt,
the material has already preserved the life and health of hundreds of thousands." In 1951, Müller was one
of seven Nobel Laureates who attended the 1st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting.[5]

In addition to the 1948 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, Müller received an honorary doctorate
from the University of Thessalonica in Greece in recognition of DDT's impact on the Mediterranean
region. He retired from Geigy in 1961, continuing his research in a home laboratory.[3]

Personal life
In high school, Müller was only an average student. His grades suffered because he spent all his free time
in his little home laboratory performing elementary experiments. In high school and college, Müller was
often mocked by his peers being called, "The Ghost," due to his thin and pale appearance.[6]

Müller married Friedel Rüegsegger in 1927 and had two sons, Heinrich (b. 1929) and Niklaus (b. 1933),
and one daughter, Margaretha (b. 1934).[7] His wife took charge of the household and raised their two
sons and daughter so that Müller could concentrate on chemistry.[6]
In his free time, Müller enjoyed the nature in the Swiss Alps and in the Swiss Jura where he owned a
small holiday home, allowing him to resume his longtime interest in botany. Furthermore, he owned a
small fruit farm that he regularly tended to. Müller often relaxed while gardening, photographing
mountain wildflowers, and taking the children on early morning nature walks. Moreover, Müller and his
wife often enjoyed playing flute and piano duets from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.[6]

Reading on the weekends in the mountains, Müller immersed himself in the science of plant protection
and pest control. This fascination resulted in his research on pesticides at Geigy, and sequentially the
discovery of DDT's pesticidal properties.[6]

Müller was regarded as independent, a lone wolf. His daughter, Margaretha, called him an Eigenbrötler:
one "who makes his own bread". He was determined and persistent in all aspects of his life, having
learned a great deal from his college mentor Fichter. [6]

Müller died in the early morning of 13 October 1965 in Basel, after a short illness, surrounded by
family.[8]

Honors
Müller received many honors in his life, among them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Specifically Greece honored him for the near elimination of malaria in the country as a result of his
discovery. In 1963, he was invited to Greece and received with great sympathy and celebrated as national
hero.[1]

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1948 [8]


Honorary member of the "Swiss Nature Research Society"[8] 1949[1]
Honorary member of the "Paris Society of Industrial Chemistry"[8] 1949[1]
Honorary member of the "Reale Accademia Internazionale del Parnaso (Napoli)" 1951[1]
Medal of Honour of the "Congrès Internationale de Phytopharmacie et Phytiatrie (Paris)"
1952[1]
Honorary member of the "Academia Brasileira de Medicina Militar (Rio de Janeiro)" 1954[1]
Honorary doctorate at the Universidad Nacional Eva Perón[1]
Honorary professorship at the "Escuela Superior Tecnica e Investigacion Cientifica (Buenos
Aires)" [1]
Honorary doctorate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki[8] 1963[1]
Golden medal of the city of Thessaloniki 1963[1]

Publications
Müller, Paul Hermann (1925), Die chemische und elektrochemische Oxidation des as. m-
Xylidins und seines Mono- und Di-Methylderivates, Basel: Universität Basel, Philosophische
Fakultät. Inauguraldissertation
Fichter, Friedrich; Müller, Paul Hermann (1925). "Chemische und elektrochemische
Oxydation des as. m-Xylidins und seines Mono- und Di-Methylderivats". Helvetica Chimica
Acta. 8 (1): 290–300. doi:10.1002/hlca.19250080148 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fhlca.1925
0080148).
Läuger, P; Martin, H; Müller, Paul Hermann (1944), "Über Konstitution und toxische Wirkung
von natürlichen und neuen synthetischen insektentötenden Stoffen", Helvetica Chimica
Acta, 27 (1), Genf / Basel: Helv. Chim. Acta.: 892–928, doi:10.1002/hlca.194402701115 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1002%2Fhlca.194402701115)
Müller, Paul Hermann (1946), Über Zusammenhänge zwischen Konstitution und insektizider
Wirkung, vol. 29, Genf / Basel: Helv. Chim. Acta, pp. 1560–1580
Müller, Paul Hermann (1946), Relations entre la constitution chimique et l'action insecticide
dans le groupe de Dichlorodiphényltrichloroéthane et Dérivés apparantes (http://www.cabdir
ect.org/abstracts/19480500443.html), Compte-Rendu du Premier Congrès International de
Phytopharmacie. Hévérle, p. 97
Müller, Paul Hermann (1949), Dichlorodiphenyläthan und neuere Insektizide. Nobel lecture,
delivered 11. December 1948. In "Les Prix Nobel en 1948", Stockholm: Kungl.Boktryckeriet
P. A. Norstedt & Söner, pp. 122–123
Müller, Paul Hermann (1949), Physik und Chemie des Dichlorodiphenyläthans, Berlin /
Göttingen / Heidelberg: Ergebn. Hyg. Bakteriol. Immunitätsforsch. exp. Therap., pp. 8–17
Müller, Paul Hermann (1949), DDT and the newer insekticides, London: Proceedings of the
2nd International Congress on Crop Protection
Müller, Paul Hermann; Spindler, M (1954). "Die Chemie der Insektizide, ihre Entwicklung
und ihr heutiger Stand". Experientia. 10 (3). Basel: 91–131. doi:10.1007/BF02158514 (http
s://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02158514). PMID 13161889 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/13
161889). S2CID 45271225 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:45271225).
Müller, Paul Hermann (1954), Chlorierte Kohlenwasserstoffe in der Schädlingsbekämpfung.
In: Ullmanns Encyklopädie der technischen Chemie. 5. Band, München / Berlin: Urban &
Schwarzenberg, pp. 477–486
Müller, Paul Hermann (1955), Physik und Chemie des DDT-Insektizides. In: DDT, das
Insektizid Dichlorodiphenyläthan und seine Bedeutung Vol I, Basel / Stuttgart: Birkhäuser,
pp. 29–89
Müller, Paul Hermann (1959), Verwendung der Antibiotica im Pflanzenschutz und
Vorratsschutz, vol. 6, Basel / New York: Antibiotica et Chemotherapia, pp. 1–40,
hdl:2027/uc1.b3752763 (https://hdl.handle.net/2027%2Fuc1.b3752763)
Müller, Paul Hermann (1961), Zwanzig Jahre wissenschaftliche - synthetische Bearbeitung
des Gebietes der synthetischen Insektizide, vol. 14, Stuttgart: Naturwiss. Rdsch., pp. 209–
219
Müller, Paul Hermann (1964), Schädlingsbekämpfung; Insekticide und andere
Insektenbekämpfungsmittel. In: Ullmanns Encyklopädie der technischen Chemie. 15. Band,
München / Berlin: Urban & Schwarzenberg, pp. 103–131

References
1. Augustin, Frank (1993). Zur Geschichte des Insektizids Dichlordiphenyltrichloräthan (DDT)
unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Leistung des Chemikers Paul Müller (1899–1965).
Leipzig: Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Leipzig. pp. 1–77.
2. Paul Hermann Müller Biography (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/paul-hermann-muller-
wap). Gale Group (World of Anatomy and Physiology).
3. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1948: Paul Müller" (https://www.nobelprize.org/n
obel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1948/muller-bio.html). Nobelprize.org.
4. "The Truth About DDT and Silent Spring" (http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-tru
th-about-ddt-and-silent-spring). The New Atlantis.
5. "1st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting – Laureates" (http://www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.or
g/laureates/meeting-1951). www.mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
6. McGrayne, S. B. Prometheans in the lab: chemistry and the making of the modern world;
McGraw-Hill: New York, 2002; pp 148–162
7. Paul Hermann Müller, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1948.
https://www.geni.com/people/Paul-Müller-Nobel-Prize-in-Physiology-or-Medicine-
1948/6000000029325653148 (accessed Nov 12, 2018).
8. "Dr. Paul Müller" (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v208/n5015/pdf/2081043b0.pdf)
(PDF). Nature. 208 (5015): 1043–1044. December 1965. Bibcode:1965Natur.208.1043. (htt
ps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1965Natur.208.1043.). doi:10.1038/2081043b0 (https://doi.or
g/10.1038%2F2081043b0). ISSN 0028-0836 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0836).
PMID 5331547 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5331547). S2CID 4188840 (https://api.sem
anticscholar.org/CorpusID:4188840). Retrieved 2012-11-24.

External links
"Dr. Paul Müller" (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v208/n5015/pdf/2081043b0.pdf)
(PDF). Nature. 208 (5015): 1043–1044. December 1965. Bibcode:1965Natur.208.1043. (htt
ps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1965Natur.208.1043.). doi:10.1038/2081043b0 (https://doi.or
g/10.1038%2F2081043b0). ISSN 0028-0836 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0836).
PMID 5331547 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5331547). S2CID 4188840 (https://api.sem
anticscholar.org/CorpusID:4188840). Retrieved 2012-11-24.
Raju TN (April 1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1948: Paul Hermann Müller (1899–1965)".
Lancet. 353 (9159): 1196. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)74426-3 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F
S0140-6736%2805%2974426-3). ISSN 0140-6736 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0140-6
736). PMID 10210021 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10210021).
Paul Hermann Müller Biography (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/paul-hermann-muller-
wap). Gale Group (World of Anatomy and Physiology).
Paul Hermann Müller (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/346) on Nobelprize.org including
the Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1948: Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane and Newer
Insecticides

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