1872-1942

German organic chemist who did foundational research on chlorophyll and its role in photosynthesis, for which he received the 1915 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Willstätter also analyzed the chemical structure of cocaine and other alkaloids, and discovered new quinones and quinone imines. After World War I, he concentrated on enzyme research. He later resigned his post as professor of chemistry at Munich in protest over the treatment of a fellow Jewish scholar, and fled to Switzerland in 1939 to escape the Nazis.