Early life Kuhn was born in
Vienna,
Austria, where he attended grammar school and high school. His interest in chemistry surfaced early; however he had many interests and decided late to study chemistry. Between 1910 and 1918 he was a schoolmate of
Wolfgang Pauli, who was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics for 1945. Beginning in 1918, Kuhn attended lectures at the
University of Vienna in chemistry. He finished his chemistry studies at the
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) and received his doctoral degree in 1922 with
Richard Willstätter for a scientific work on enzymes. After graduating, Kuhn continued his scientific career, first in Munich, then at the
ETH Zurich and from 1929 onwards at the
University of Heidelberg, where he was head of the chemistry department beginning in 1937. In 1928 he married Daisy Hartmann and the couple subsequently had two sons and four daughters.
Research Kuhn's areas of study included: investigations of theoretical problems of
organic chemistry (
stereochemistry of
aliphatic and
aromatic compounds; syntheses of
polyenes and
cumulenes; constitution and colour; the acidity of
hydrocarbons), as well as extensive fields in
biochemistry (
carotenoids;
flavins;
vitamins and
enzymes). Specifically, he carried out important work on vitamin B2 and the antidermatitis vitamin B6. In 1929 he became Principal of the Institute for Chemistry at the newly founded
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research (which, since 1950, has been renamed the
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in
Heidelberg). By 1937 he also took over the administration of this Institute. In addition to these duties he also served as of Professor of Biochemistry at the
University of Heidelberg, and for one year he was at the
University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, as a Visiting Research Professor for
Physiological Chemistry. He was subsequently awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938 for his "work on carotenoids and vitamins," but rejected the prize as
Hitler had forbidden German citizens to accept it. In a handwritten letter, he even described the awarding of the prize to a German as an invitation to violate a decree of the Führer. He received the award after
World War II. Kuhn is also credited with the discovery of the deadly
nerve agent Soman in 1944. Kuhn was editor of
Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie from 1948. Kuhn died in 1967 in
Heidelberg, Germany, aged 66. ==Nazi era==