Quick Facts
Biography
Emanuele Paternò di Sessa was an Italian chemist, discoverer of the Paternò–Büchi reaction.
Biography
He was born in Palermo in 1847 as the Marquess of Sessa, in a branch of the House of Paternò, and studied at the University of Palermo with Stanislao Cannizzaro.
Scientific Career
In 1871 he became lecturer at the University of Torino, but returned to Palermo in the following year as Cannizzaro's successor. In 1892 he became a professor at the University of Rome. His main area of research was photochemistry, and discovered the Paternò–Büchi reaction in 1909. The reaction was improved by George Büchi, its other namesake, in 1954.
Political career
He was politically active. He was the Mayor of Palermo (1890–1892), and in 1890 he was appointed by King Victor Emmanuel III a member of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy and was elected vice president (1904-1919) of the Italian upper house.