Hoppe-Seyler, Ernst Felix Immanuel

Ernst Felix Hoppe-Seyler, (born December 26, 1825, Freyburg an der Unstrut, Halle—died August 10, 1895, Wasserburg am Bodensee), German physician, known for his work toward establishing physiological chemistry (biochemistry) as an academic discipline. He was the first to obtain lecithin in a pure form and introduced the word proteid (now protein). Additional contributions included metabolic studies and researches on chlorophyll and on blood, especially hemoglobin, which he obtained in crystalline form.

Hoppe-Seyler founded (1877) and edited the first biochemical journal, Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie, and, apart from numerous scientific papers, published Physiologische Chemie, 4 vol. (1877–81), and Handbuch der Physiologisch- und Pathologisch-Chemischen Analyse (1858).