FRIEDRICH GALINOVSKY I1 Chemisches Universitats Institut, Vienna, Austria (Translated by Ralph E. Oesper)
FRmnRwH WESSELY,born on August 3, 1897, at Kirchberg am Wagram (lower Austria), came from an old jurist family. He served as officer in World War I and was severely wounded ton-ard its close. Following his scientific inclinations, he began his chemical training at Vienna under W. Schlenk and R. Wegscheider. His doctoral work mas carried out in the I1 chemical laboratory of the university under A. Francke. He then went to Berlin, where he continued his training a t the Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fiir Faserstoffchemie under R. 0 . Herzog. This period, 1923-24, made many decisive impressions on him vhich became fruitful after his return to his Viennese alma mater. In the meantime E. Spath had become head of the Institut and Wessely served under him from 1927 to 1945 as director of the organic section. I n 1929 he habilitated as Privatdozent for organic chemistry and in 1937 was named extraordinary (associate) professor. His researches earned the Wegscheider Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1931. A call to head the Institute of Medical Chemistry of the Vienna Medical Faculty was accepted in 1945. He overcame the prevailing difficult circumstances and contributed markedly to the restoration of the department and its laboratory.
Wessely was called back to the I1 Chemisches Universitats laboratory in 1948 as successor to the lately deceased Spath. The Institut has borne this name since 1870; it has been headed by many prominent chemists. These include F. Rochleder, one of the founders of phytochemistry; A. Lieben, who directed the Institut for 30 years and who founded a chemical school and contributed many researches of fundamental importance in aliphatic chemistry; Z. H. Skraup, best known for his quinoline synthesis; G . Goldschmiedt, who cleared up the constitution of papaverin; W. Schlenk, whose investigations of free radicals aroused much interest; and finally, E. Spiith, who directed the Institut from 1924 to 1946, and who attracted students from all over the world by his researches on alkaloids and other plant materials. Another prominent member of this eminent company mas F. Feigl, the renowned master of spot-test analysis and complex-compound chemistry, who worked under Spath until 1938. All these contributed to the high reputation which this laboratory enjoyed before World War TI. Because of the lament,able conditions of the postwar period, Wessely has found it essential since 1948 to carry out a deep-seated reorganization of the Institut in
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
order that it may again measure up to the proper standards in teaching and research. Its connections with international progress in the various fields were almost totally interrupted during the war and in the years following the conflict which cost Austria so dearly. He hasbeen aided in these endeavorsby a corps of assistants, some his former students and colleagues. Despite the limitations imposed by the material stringency in finances, he has already advanced quite far toward his goals. He has been a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 1948 and has long been one of the chief editors of the Monatshefte fur Chemie, founded in 1880 and still published in Vienna. His scientific publications exceed 120. In them, and corresponding to his many-sided interests, he has not limited himself to a narrow special field of organic chemistry; the topics cover a fairly heterogeneous lot of problems. The earliest studies, which were started while he was a t Berlin, dealt with the anhydrides of amino-N-oarboxylic acids and their transformation products. Even then he pointed out their significance for peptide syntheses and other questions of protein chemistry, a prediction that has recently been confirmed by the newly awakened interest in these compounds and by further studies in his own laboratory. Other paths for arriving a t the constitution of peptides have been opened recently. Then came his important studies of the constitution of natural vegetable produsts: glycosides of the coumsrin and flavone series, furocoumarins, isoflavones, isohvanes, bitter principles such as columbin, etc. New kinds of dyestuffs of the type of a phenanthrofuran either were elucidated completely from the structural standpoint or substantial progress has been made along these lines. Collaborating with Spath, Wessely achieved important advances with respect to the clarification of the constitution of podophyllotoxin, which attained considerable importance in cancer therapy. One series of researches dealt with synthetic estrogens of the stilbestrol type. Pertinent preparative problems were studied, and the steric relations were also investigated in these physiologically interesting classes of compounds. Other studies dealt with such diverse subjects as the separation, identification, and reactions of phenols, as well as their behavior on carboxylation or under the action of lead tetraacetate, and the behavior of the resulting quinols; the polarographic behavior of stilbenes; and dehydrogenations, etc. It has often been said that the investigational activities and research programs in the ~ u r o p e a nuniversities are determined almost entirely by the head of the Institut, whose interests and opinions become dominant,
in the particular local picture. This characterization is not entirely true of the I1 Chemisches Laboratorium of the University of Vienna. The universal open-mindedness and the wide scientific horizon of its director assure the younger men the opportunity of carrying on their own projects as soon as they have demonstrated their ability. This is why the average output of the past few years has been about 50 papers annually, and many of these bear the names of the younger chemists as sole or principal authors. These papers have dealt, among other things, with paper chromatography and paper electrophoresis or the further development of these techniques. Likewise, inorganic and organic microanalysis is intensively cultivated in this laboratory, following the tradition of the Austrian schools and preserving the tradition of Emich and Pregl. Also traditionally, some of the researches, in addition to studies of peptides and albuminous substances, are concerned with low-molecular natural products, especially alkaloids. Wessely is ready to try out and use the newest methods whenever they are feasible. His lectures include the most revont tindiugs, adding t o th&stimnlns. But like his rxarninntion~.tliwe Iwtweu are often m i t e diffirult. As well as being a versatile scientist, the man himself has a wide spread of interest. He has a horror of dry intellectualism, and this manifests itself in his love of music; heis an excellentperformer. This vigor of feeling, which quickly brings his colleagues and collaborators into his circle of friends, has resulted in the creation of a specific "Instituts" atmosphere. His independent attitude toward things and happenings of the day is precisely what makes the scientist Wessely a real teacher of young people. It is not to be expected that a personality so differentiated as Wessely will concur in the usual solutions and slogans of the day. Although the I1 Chemisches Universitats Laboratorium in Vienna has made a nice recovery since the debacle of 1945, it is still faced with the urgent problem of the opportunities open to its well-trained and competent graduates. Still more pressing, because it is crucial for the scientific life of the Institut, is the question as to how capable men can be kept in the school in face of the enticements offered by industry and research foundations, particularly in foreign countries. The fervent hope is that the national authorities and industries, and also those outside Austria, will do their share in the solution of this problem by making research stipends available. The preservation of a high cultural level in Austria is eminently important, and not solely to this country. The United States government and/or its industries might well institute a kind of Marshall Plan by settingup research fellowshipsin the Austrian schools of hieher learnine. The returns from an investment of t,histype could indeed exceed all expectations ~
~
~-
~
~~~
-
