Gerit Jan Mulder (1802 - 1880)
Gerit Jan Mulder (1802 – 1880) was a
Dutch physician and chemist whose research helped establish
the chemical study of life. He studied medicine at Utrecht
University, and earned his doctorate there in 1825. He
became professor of chemistry at Utrecht University in 1840,
and held that position until ill health prompted his
retirement in 1868. Mulder
is noted for his study of the chemistry of living organisms.
His analyses of albumin, fibrin, and casein suggested to him
that these substances shared a common chemical constituent
characterize by the constant ratio C20H31N5O12
with
variable Sulphur and phosphorus content.
At the suggestion of the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob
Berzelius, he introduced in 1838 the
term Protein ,
based on a Greek word that suggested its 'primacy' in
Life. Mulder’s hypothesis of a single common
constituent was incorrect, but he established proteins as a
distinct class of compounds of similar chemical structure.
The chemist Emil Fischer (1852 - 1919) later showed
that proteins were polymers of amino acids, for
which he received the Nobel Prize in 1902.