Emil Fischer's Proof of the Configuration of Sugars: A Centennial Tribute

Today's textbooks convey the deceptive impression that chemistry developed in a rational and orderly process with discoveries following one upon another in a vertical progression—an impression that tends to classify Fischer's achievement as a matter‐of‐fact historical development. This misconception does not consider the instances of serendipity invariably involved, and entirely fails to appreciate the human endeavor, the intellectual struggle of the dedicated researcher, and the forging force of his personality that eventually led to this key insight. The hundredth anniversary of Fischer's classical piece of work provides a welcome opportunity not only to highlight its paramount importance for the development of carbohydrate chemistry, and of organic chemistry in general, but to trace the creative processes underlying this fundamental discovery, the thought patterns at a conceptual level, and the constructive reasoning that eventually led to it. Their understanding and appreciation is essential for emulating Fischer's achievement in a modern context. Die Geschichte einer Wissenschaft ist diese Wissenschaft selbst , J. W. von Goethe