Karl Heinrich Ritthausen
Ritthausen c. 1913
Born	(1826-01-13)13 January 1826 Armenruh bei Goldberg, Silesia, nowPoland
Died	16 October 1912(1912-10-16) (aged 86) Berlin, Germany
Alma mater	Liebig's institute at Giessen Royal Agricultural Academy at Waldau, near Königsberg
Known for	Glutamic acid Protein combining
Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry Agricultural chemistry
Institutions	University of Königsberg

Karl Heinrich Ritthausen (13 January 1826 – 16 October 1912) was a Germanbiochemist who identified twoamino acids and made other contributions to the science of plantproteins.

Ritthausen was born in Armenruh, nearGoldburg,Silesia,Prussia, in today'sPoland.

Ritthausen's first advanced education inchemistry was in Leipzig and Bonn. He began to do research in Giessen withJustus von Liebig, and was inspired to continue investigation intoagricultural chemistry. He returned to Leipzig to study withOtto Linné Erdmann. He was awarded the doctorate degree in 1853. Theagricultural experiment stations at Möckern and Ida-Marienhütte were the locations of his first professional appointments. In 1862 he began to publish articles on the proteins ofwheat.

The site of the experiment station becamePoppelsdorf in 1867 when Ritthausen became professor of chemistry atUniversity of Bonn. Working withgliadin, he identified α-aminoglutaric acid orglutamic acid in 1866. Then he identifiedaspartic acid in analmond extract. These findings extended chemical awareness offunctional groups in protein, and appeared in theJournal für Praktische Chemie. Ritthausen publishedProtein bodies in grains, legumes, and linseed. Contributions to the physiology of seeds for cultivation, nutrition, and fodder^[1] in 1872, summarizing the science ofproteins in relation toplant physiology andanimal nutrition. While in Bonn he got married.

From 1873 to 1899, Ritthausen was professor of chemistry atUniversity of Königsberg. He retired, moved to Berlin in 1903, and died there on 16 October 1912.

In hisbiography of Ritthausen,Thomas Burr Osborne stated his admiration:

If we are to judge Ritthausen’s work fairly we must remember that it was begun under the influence of Liebig’s erroneous assumption that only a few forms of protein existed; that at that timeorganic chemistry was in its infancy; that few methods were known that proteins might be isolated from thetissues containing them, or by which different proteins could be separated from one another and be purified; that the only means for preventing the changes caused bybacteria andenzymes were low temperatures; and that the facilities for conducting such investigations were very limited. To the writer, who has had a long experience in the same field, under vastly more favorable conditions prevailing a generation later, it is astounding that Ritthausen accomplished so much, and that the data that he secured were in the main so accurate.^[2]

Technical advances by Ritthausen were cited in 1942:

Ritthausen's accomplishments were, first, the discovery of glutamic and aspartic acids as products of the hydrolysis of proteins; second, the realization thathydrolysis is the only method of decomposition of proteins that leads to decomposition products truly characteristic of the original protein molecule; third, the statement that these decomposition products areamino acids, which are formed in proportions characteristic of the particular protein from which they are derived—this statement laid the foundation of our present-day methods of amino acid analysis of proteins; and, fourth, the statement that if proteins differ in amino acid composition, they should also differ in nutritive value to the animal.^[3]

Abibliography of Ritthausen’s works was published in 1913 by theBiochemical Bulletin 2:339–46. It was assembled by Lewis W. Fetzer ofGeorgetown University and theU.S. Department of Agriculture.

• Edsall, John T. (2008)."Ritthausen, Karl Heinrich".Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. encyclopedia.com. Retrieved1 January 2016.
• K.H. Ritthausen (1872)Die Eiweisskörper der Getreidearten, Hülsenfrüchte und Ölsamen. Beiträge zur Physiologie der Samen der Kulturgewachese, der Nahrungs- und Futtermitel, Bonn, 1872 fromGoogle books.

• German biochemists
• 1826 births
• 1912 deaths

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using infobox person with deprecated parameters