Remsen, Ira

Ira Remsen, (born Feb. 10, 1846, New York City—died March 4, 1927, Carmel, Calif., U.S.), American chemist and university president, codiscoverer of saccharin.

After studying at Columbia University (M.D., 1867) and at the universities of Munich and Göttingen in Germany (Ph.D., 1870), Remsen began his investigations into pure chemistry at the University of Tübingen, where he was assistant (1870–72) to Rudolf Fittig. Returning to the United States, he became one of the original faculty of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where he was professor of chemistry (1876–1913), director of the chemical laboratory (1876–1908), secretary of the Academic Council (1887–1901), and president of the university (1901–13). He introduced many German laboratory methods into Johns Hopkins and emphasized the university’s function as a research centre. Remsen founded and edited the American Chemical Journal (1879–1913), in which he first published a description of a new sweetening compound (later known as saccharin), which he and a student discovered.