Emil Hermann Fischer was born on October 9, 1852 in Euskirchen, Germany. With five older sisters, he was the only son of Laurenz Fischer and Julie Poensgen Fischer. Fischer described his youth as happy in his unfinished autobiography, Aus meinem Leben (Out of my Life). Fischer graduated at the top of his class from the Gymnasium (high school) of Bonn in 1869. He entered the University of Bonn in the spring of 1871.

After less than a year at the University of Bonn, Fischer transferred to Strasbourg where he studied under the noted chemist, Adolf von Baeyer. For his doctorate Fischer did research on fluorescein, a coal tar dye that shows a fine yellow-green fluorescence in solution, and is used to trace water through systems. Fischer's researches into coal, coal tar, and the synthesis of organic chemicals, did much to build the German dye industry.

Fischer received his doctoral degree in 1874 from...