2023Fritz Pregl - Set

Friedrich “Fritz” Pregl was born in Ljubljana in 1869, where he received his elementary education. After completing medical studies in Graz, he went on to study with Wilhelm Ostwald and Emil Fischer, both recipients of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He returned to Graz in 1913 to take up an appointment as a full professor of applied medicinal chemistry at the University of Graz, a post he held until his death in 1930. At the time that Pregl was embarking on his scientific career, the precise elemental analysis of organic compounds represented a significant problem. A great deal of painstaking and time-consuming work was needed to obtain a sufficient quantity of a sample. Pregl turned his attention to developing a basis for quantitative organic microanalysis. His method significantly reduced the quantity of a substance needed to complete an analysis, and also the amount of time required. As a result, it quickly became an indispensable part of laboratory work throughout the world. Pregl was soon nominated for the Nobel Prize, eventually winning it in 1923.