Emanuele Paternò

Emanuele Paternò di Sessa (* December 12, 1847 in Palermo, † January 18, 1935 same place ) was an Italian chemist who discovered the Paternò - Büchi reaction among others.

Life and work

Paternò was born as the Marquess di Sessa and studied chemistry at the University of Palermo in Stanislao Cannizzaro. In 1871 he became a lecturer at the University of Turin. However, in the following year he went back to succeed Cannizzaro to Palermo. In 1892 he became a professor at the University of Rome, where he worked on photochemical tasks and 1909, the Paternò - Büchi reaction discovered. This was significantly improved by George Hermann Büchi in 1954. During his time in Rome, he also discovered the reaction of chlorine gas and carbon monoxide to phosgene on activated carbon.

Together with Stanislao Cannizzaro, he founded the Gazzetta Chimica Italiana journal. In 1910 he was appointed a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

Paterno was also politically active. He was mayor of Palermo 1890-1892 and a member of the regional parliament 1898-1914. He was also a member and Vice- President of the Senate.