Vladimir Prelog

The famous chemist Vladimir got married to Kamila Vitek in 1933, and they were blessed with a son, Jan, born sixteen years after marriage.

An introverted, peace-loving person, in 1991, along with 108 other 'Nobel Prize' winners, he signed the peace appeal to stop the 'Battle of Vukovar', being held in Croatia.

On January 7, 1998, the famous chemist passed away in Zürich, with his ashes being buried in Zagreb's 'Mirogoj Cemetery', three years later.

Vladimir Prelog was born to Milan, a history professor, and his wife Mara Costello on July 23, 1906, in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then under the Austro-Hungarian rule.

In June, 1914, Vladimir witnessed the assassination of crown prince of Austria, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Sophie, his wife, by a Serbian student. The assassination led to violent reactions against the Serbians, and this left an aversive influence on the mind of the young witness.

Milan and Mara got divorced when their son was almost nine years old, and the young boy had to move to Zagreb, Croatia, to live with an aunt. He began studying in an elementary school in Zagreb, but soon moved to Osijek, Croatia, after his father started working there.

While in school in Osijek, he was taught by chemistry teacher Ivan Kuria, who instilled in the young boy, a love for the subject. In 1922, his first study in chemistry was published in the German science journal, 'Chemiker Zeitung'.

Two years later, in 1924, Prelog graduated from school and began pursuing a diploma in chemical engineering from Prague's famous 'Czech Technical University'.

Due to lack of employment opportunities during the severe economic crisis all over the world, a phase termed as the 'Great Depression', Vladimir began working for ‘G.J. Dríza’. G. J. Dríza, was a private laboratory in the city of Prague, and the young man worked there till 1935.

During his free time, he concentrated on his personal research using chemical compounds called alkaloids from the bark of cacao trees.

In 1935, Prelog was employed as a professor of chemical engineering and organic chemistry, at the 'University of Zagreb'. He began research on the alkaloid ‘Quinine’ and its chemical compounds, with the help of financial assistance from 'Kaštel', now known as 'Pliva', a famous pharmaceutical company.

With extensive research, he developed an antimicrobial sulphonamide drug called 'Streptazol', which soon became well-known in the pharmaceutical industry.

In 1941, after the World War II began, Vladimir was requested by Austrian-German chemist Richard Kuhn to deliver a lecture in Germany. During the same time, the former was also invited by Lavoslav Ružička, who was one of his mentors.

Amongst innumerable research studies conducted by this remarkable chemist, the most important is the investigation of isomeric molecules that held his interest throughout his life. It is the same that bagged him the Nobel Prize in 1975, making him one of the stalwarts of stereochemistry.