# Richard Willstätter

_German chemist (1872–1942)_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/richard-willstatter
Last updated: 2026-10-31

> Richard Martin Willstätter FRS(For) HFRSE was a German organic chemist whose study of the structure of plant pigments, chlorophyll included, won him the 1915 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 13 August 1872 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Karlsruhe ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P19))
- **Died:** 3 August 1942 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P570))
- **Place of death:** Muralto ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P20))
- **Citizenship:** German Empire; Weimar Republic ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P27))
- **Occupation:** university teacher; chemist ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P106))
- **Education:** LMU Munich ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P69))
- **Spouse:** Sophie Leser ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P26))
- **Awards:** Faraday Lectureship Prize; Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order; Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Willard Gibbs Award; Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art; Adolf-von-Baeyer Gold Medal; honorary doctor of the University of Manchester; Davy Medal; honorary doctor of ETH Zürich; Foreign Member of the Royal Society; honorary doctorate of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt; honorary doctor of the University of Halle-Wittenberg; Bressa Prize; Goethe Medal for Art and Science; honorary member of the Physics Association (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072#P166))

## Questions

**When was Richard Willstätter born?**  
Richard Willstätter was born on 13 August 1872 in Karlsruhe.

**Where did Richard Willstätter study?**  
Richard Willstätter was educated at LMU Munich.

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## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): Richard Willstätter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Willst%C3%A4tter) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q77072](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q77072) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- [Image: Richard Willstätter.jpg by Unknown author Unknown author (Public domain)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Willst%C3%A4tter.jpg)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article Richard Willstätter, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Richard Willstätter.jpg — Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain.

## Cite this page

"Richard Willstätter". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/richard-willstatter. Retrieved 15 November 2026.