Kobel biography
From Berlin to Frankfurt am Main: the biochemist Maria Kobel worked on “Beilstein’s Handbook of Organic Chemistry” for more than three decades.
Maria Kobel was born on 5 August 1897 in Liegnitz, Lower Silesia (now Legnica, Poland), the eldest of ten siblings. From 1918 to 1921, she studied chemistry in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) and received her doctorate in 1921 with a thesis entitled “On the substances referred to in the literature as glyoxylurea”. Later that year, she moved to Berlin.
Her outstanding academic and doctoral achievements did not go unnoticed, and in 1924 she was appointed to a position with the biochemist Carl Neuberg (1877–1956), a student of Alfred Wohl (1863–1939), at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) for Experimental Therapy in Berlin-Dahlem. Shortly afterwards, the institute was renamed the KWI for Biochemistry. From 1929 to 1936, Kobel headed the Tobacco Research Department there.
Neuberg was Kobel’s scientific mentor until his dismissal in 1934 and his expulsion on account of his Jewish heritage. Their shared research focus was on the phosphoric acid esters of glycerol (common name: glycerine). Kobel and Neuberg co-authored specialist articles with titles such as “Phosphoric acid esters in carbohydrate metabolism” and “Enzymes and their effects”. A notable feature of Neuberg’s extensive list of publications is the frequent involvement of women. Compared with other institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, Neuberg’s institute employed more women scientists. In addition, a relatively large number of female students received their doctorates at the KWI for Biochemistry. Kobel remained on friendly terms with her mentor until his death in 1956.
Before his emigration, Neuberg managed to secure Kobel a position at the “Hofmann House” in Berlin. The building at Sigismundstraße 4 was the headquarters of the German Chemical Society, co-founded by August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818–1892), until 1945. Kobel’s scientific achievements are reflected in her contributions, including those she published in the four-volume handbook “Methods of Enzyme Research”, published in 1941.
From 1941, Kobel worked on the editorial staff of “Beilstein’s Handbook of Organic Chemistry”, later becoming a section editor. Known to chemists simply as “Beilstein”, the work is a comprehensive catalogue of organic chemical compounds, which is continued today as the Beilstein Database. With the support of Frankfurt Nobel laureate Otto Hahn (1879–1968), the Beilstein Institute was founded as a charitable foundation in Frankfurt am Main in 1951. As a member of the institute’s staff, Kobel helped shape “Beilstein”. She continued to be listed as an author and editor of Beilstein’s Handbook of Organic Chemistry until the mid-1970s.
Maria Kobel died in Kronberg im Taunus on 14 August 1996, shortly after her 99th birthday.
Literature
H. Conrads, B. Lohff: Carl Neuberg – Biochemistry, Politics and History. The life and work of an almost forgotten researcher, Steiner, Stuttgart, 2006
M. Engel: The History of Dahlem, Berlin-Verlag, Berlin, 1984
A. Vogt: Women Scientists at Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes A–Z, 2nd expanded edition, Archive for the History of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, 2008, pp. 98–100
E. Baman, K. Myrbäck (eds.): Methods of Enzyme Research, four volumes, Thieme, Leipzig, 1941
Authors
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Ehlers
Prof. Dr. Heribert Offermanns
Editorial work
Dr. Uta Neubauer
Project management
Dr. Karin J. Schmitz (GDCh-public relations)
The authors are responsible for the content of the biographies.
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