Franz Joseph Emil Fischer

{{Expand German|topic=bio|Franz Fischer (Chemiker)|date=September 2019}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Franz Fischer

|image = Franz Josef Emil Fischer - 1877 reutsche.jpg|image_size =

|caption = Franz Fischer (1911)

|birth_date = {{birth date|1877|3|19|df=y}}

|birth_place = Freiburg, Baden, Germany

|residence =

|nationality = German

|death_date = {{death date and age|1947|12|1|1877|3|19|df=y}}

|death_place = Munich, Germany

|field =

|work_institution = Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research

|alma_mater = University of Gießen

|doctoral_advisor = Karl Elbs

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Fischer–Tropsch process
Fischer assay

|prizes = Melchett Medal (1936)
Wilhelm Exner Medal (1936)

|religion =

|footnotes =

}}

Franz Joseph Emil Fischer (19 March 1877 in Freiburg im Breisgau – 1 December 1947 in Munich) was a German chemist. He was the founder and first director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research. He is known for the discovery of the Fischer–Tropsch process.{{cite journal| doi = 10.1002/cber.19671000642| title = Franz Fischer 1877–1947| journal = Chemische Berichte| volume = 100| issue = 6| pages = CXXVII-CLVII| year = 1967| last1 = Pichler| first1 = Helmut| doi-access = free}}

Career

In 1925, he and Hans Tropsch discovered the Fischer–Tropsch process. This allowed for the production of liquid hydrocarbons from carbon monoxide and hydrogen with metal catalyst at temperatures of {{convert|150|–|300|C|F}}.

In 1930, he and Hans Schrader developed the Fischer assay, a standardized laboratory test for determining the oil yield from oil shale to be expected from a conventional shale oil extraction.{{Cite web

|last = Heistand

|first = Robert N.

|title = The Fischer Assay, standard method?

|publisher = Symposium on oil shale, tar sands, and related materials — production and utilization of synfuels

|year = 1976

|location = San Francisco

|url = http://www.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprint%20archive/Files/21_6_SAN%20FRANCISCO_08-76_0040.pdf

|accessdate = 2008-08-18

|archive-date = 2012-02-11

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120211074200/http://www.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/preprint%20archive/Files/21_6_SAN%20FRANCISCO_08-76_0040.pdf

|url-status = dead

}} He also worked with Wilhelm Ostwald and Hermann Emil Fischer.{{Cite web |url=http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/rschg/biog.html#F |title=Chemist biographies |access-date=2006-12-17 |archive-date=2017-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708212507/http://www.chem.qmul.ac.uk/rschg/biog.html#F |url-status=dead }} In 1913, he became the Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim.

He joined the Nazi Party in 1933, and remained in office until his retirement in 1943.