John Ulric Nef (chemist)

John Ulric Nef ( born June 14, 1862 in Herisau as Johann Ulrich Nef, † August 13, 1915 in Carmel -by-the -Sea ) was a Swiss- American chemist. He is considered one of the founders of organic chemistry in the United States. He discovered named after him Nef reaction.

Biography

Nef was followed in 1866 with his mother and his brother, the father in the United States. He took in 1884 to study chemistry at Harvard University on. There he received a scholarship to study abroad, with which he was awarded his doctorate in 1886 under Adolf von Baeyer. He returned in 1887 returned to the U.S. and taught at Purdue University. He then moved to Clark University in Worcester, where he was appointed in 1892 as the successor of Arthur Michael. However, after clashes at the University, he accepted a professorship at the University of Chicago, where he taught until his death.

Nef worked and in particular the field of isonitriles, fulminate and quinones.