JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
HANS LIE8 RALPH E. OESPER University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
T o BE closely associated with a great man is an undoubted privilege but it also has a disadvantageous side. The real worth and achievements of the younger man are likely to be obscured by the shadow of his superior. Hans Lieb worked in Fritz Pregl's laboratory for 15 years as assistant and co-worker; h e was Pregl's righthand man during the gradual development of quantitative microanalysis; he made the bulk of the innnmerahle preliminary trials that were necessary before the various procedures were brought to a satisfactory and reliable state. As an able and experienced manipnlator, it was Lieb's privilege and pleasant duty to demonstrate the Pregl techniques to the numerous visitors and learners who came to the Graz laboratory from all parts of the world, and he was asked to write the discussions of the methods for numerous important manuals, handbooks, etc. He made many valuable improvements in microchemical equipment and apparatus, and independently devised excellent methods for the microanalytical determination of phosphorus and arsenic, and a new micromethod for carbon by wet combustion. In all sincerity it may he asked: Could Pregl have attained his great successes without the devoted and capable services of Lieb, and who was better qualified to succeed Pregl after his death in 1930? Hans Lieb was born at Weiz in the Austrian province of Styria in 1887. His university training was obtained at Graz, where he received the Ph.D. in 1912. After a half-year as assistant to the organic chemist Roland Scholl at Graz, he was appointed assistant to Fritz Pregl, who was then head of the medicochemical department a t the University of Innsbruck. When Pregl, in
1913, was called to a similar post at Graz he took Lieb with him. The latter passed the teachers examination for secondary schools in 1913; from 1916 to 1922 he studied medicine on the side. He habilitated for applied medical chemistry in 1921 and in 1924 was promoted to professor extraordinary with the assignment to teach physiological chemistry. In 1931 Prof. Lieb succeeded Pregl as professor of medical chemistry and head of the medicochemical department of the University of Graz, a chair which he still occupies. In the tradition of his revered teacher and predecessor he has continued to maintain the laboratory as a worldfamous research and educational institution for organic microanalysis. He is a recognized expert in forensic chemistry, and has served on the Austrian Sanitary Council. He is now dean of the medical faculty for the third time. Besides his work in microanalytical chemistry, Prof. Lieb has worked in other fields. His numerous publications can be divided into the following categories: Microchemical (16); Synthetic-organic (11); Natural products (10); Forensic chemistry (3); Physiological chemical (25); Obituaries, etc. (6); Contributions to Handbooks ( l l ) , some of these chapters being equivalent to separate books or monographs. His "Praktikum der physiologischen Chemie" (215 pp.) was published in 1946; his "Anleitung zur Darstellung organischer Praparate mit kleinen Suhstanzmengen" is in press. Professor Lieb is the present chairman of the Austrian Microchemical Society, which is sponsoring the First International Microchemical Congress at Graz in July, 1950.
