Notable Events on September 8
Birth of Refik Saydam (1881)
On this day in 1881, Refik Saydam was born. He served as a physician and later became the 4th Prime Minister of Turkey. In his medical career during the Ottoman Empire, Saydam developed a treatment for typhus, a disease caused by Rickettsia bacteria.
Birth of Aziz Sancar (1946)
Aziz Sancar, a prominent Turkish-American biochemist and molecular biologist, was born on September 8, 1946. He gained international recognition for his groundbreaking research on DNA repair, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015.
Passing of Hermann Staudinger (1965)
September 8 also marks the death of Hermann Staudinger, a German organic chemist, who passed away in 1965. Staudinger is celebrated for his discovery of ketenes, which are significant intermediates in the synthesis of antibiotics, including penicillin.