Ira Remsen Photograph

Ira Remsen was an American chemist best known for the discovery of the artificial sweetener saccharin, alongside Constantin Fahlberg. He was born in New York City, New York on February 10, 1846. Remsen attended the New York Homeopathic Medical College, where he earned his M.D. in 1865. He went on to receive his Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen in 1870. Upon returning to the United States, Remsen worked as a professor of chemistry at Williams College. He was later offered a faculty position at Johns Hopkins University, where he founded their chemistry department and as well as the American Chemical Journal. While working as the head of the lab, Remsen worked with Constantin Fahlberg. In 1879, Fahlberg noticed a sweet taste that turned bitter on his hands after working with coal tar. Fahlberg and Remsen discovered the taste was derived from the oxidation of o-toluenesulfonamide and they named the substance saccharin. The two published their findings in 1880, though Fahlberg would later take sole credit for the discovery of saccharin and patented the substance. Remsen continued working for Johns Hopkins, becoming the university’s president in 1901. He died on March 4, 1927, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.