Gustav von Hüfner

Life and work

The story behind the role.

German chemist (1840–1908).

Gustav von Hüfner (13 May 1840 in Köstritz – 14 March 1908 in Tübingen) was a German chemist. From 1860 to 1865 he studied medicine at the University of Leipzig, and while a student, attended lectures given by biologists Carl Gegenbaur and Matthias Jakob Schleiden at the University of Jena. After graduation, he trained under physiologist Carl Ludwig and chemist Hermann Kolbe at Leipzig, and studied in the laboratory of Robert Bunsen at the University of Heidelberg. In 1869 he obtained his habilitation, and three years later, succeeded Felix Hoppe-Seyler at the University of Tübingen. In 1875, he was appointed a full professor of organic and physiological chemistry at the university. He is best known for his research involving blood chemistry. The term "Hüfner number" is defined as the amount of oxygen that can bind with one gram of hemoglobin when fully saturated. In 1894 Hüfner determined that a gram of hemoglobin could maximally bind 0.0598 millimoles (1.34mL) of oxygen gas.

Encyclopaedic excerpts from Gustav von Hüfner; shortened for length and available under CC BY-SA 4.0.