The history of the discovery of DDT by Paul Hermann Muller
The history of the discovery of DDT by Paul Hermann Muller - Paul Hermann Müller was born in Olten, Solothurn on 12 January 1899. He was the first child of four children. He is a chemist Switzerland that examines the impact of DDT on insects. The discovery confirmed his name as the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1948.
Muller is a figure that is very fond of experimentation and research. Since young, he has had a private laboratory. His hobby of researching is supported by an adequate education. He was noted as a successful scientist in the world of teaching.
However, his research led him to leave his studies to work in a lab at Dreyfus. Also, he also worked as a scientific assistant in the laboratory of chemistry an electric plant, Lonza AG.
Muller was educated at Basel in 1918. There he studied chemistry. He began studying inorganic chemistry under Professor Friedrich Fichter. In 1922, he continued his research in the laboratory of organic chemistry Hans Rupe at once became an Assistant there. He managed to get a Ph.D. Through his dissertation titled "Die Chemische und des Xylidins und Oxidation Elektrochemische Trawl Mono-und In-Methylderivates" in 1925. He graduated summa cum laude very satisfies it.
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| Paul Hermann Muller |
The history of the discovery of DDT by Paul Hermann Muller
On May 25, 1925, Muller had worked as a research chemist at J.R. Geigy A.G. in Basel. He researched about synthetic dyes from plants and natural tanning agents.
In 1937 he patented a new synthetic technique for rhodanide and cyanate based compounds exhibiting bactericidal and insecticidal activity. He developed the product Garmin one seed disinfectant, which is more secure than the mercury-based disinfectant.
His success in research on disinfectant contains Muller was given the responsibility of researching and developing an insecticide. He delegated the task of existing pesticides because at that time did not yet have an optimal eradicate power.
Natural Onsektisida they're expensive, while the synthetic pesticide active insect against and cheap, but arsenic compounds contained in it are toxic to humans and other mammals.
In his research, Muller found that the insects to absorb chemicals different from animals. This discovery gives a conclusion that there is a possibility of toxic chemicals exclusively for insects. He also attempts to making synthetics the effect of toxins faster and stronger on the biggest possible number of insect species of warm-blooded.
In 1935, Muller started its quest to find new insecticide. He studied all the data he could find on the subject of pesticides to decide where the chemical properties of this type of poison. He is also looking for data that can be used as an ingredient to find the poison.
In his research, he had to spend four years and 349 attempts, all of which failed. He recently managed to find a compound that is sought in 1939 for a trial against the flies were placed in a cage which is mixed with an individual compound, then flies off.
The compound is the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) or commonly known in chemistry, 1, 1, 1-trichloro-2.2-bis (4-klorofenil) ethane.
Muller realized that DDT is the chemical compound that he searches for four years. Furthermore, the Government of Switzerland and the United States Department of Agriculture conducts trials of a compound of DDT on crops of potatoes.
Specifically, DDT compounds also show surprising effectiveness against various pests, including mosquitoes, lice, and flies, as well as the spread of malaria, typhoid, plague, and a variety of other tropical diseases.
Read also: Karl Landsteiner a Nobel the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine
Read also: Karl Landsteiner a Nobel the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine
