John Jacob Abel the position of chair of the department until he retired at the age of 75 in 1932. Ever since his early years in Europe, Abel showed great interest in isolating pure form of internal gland hormones. The first work that led to his international reputation as a pharmacologist and biochemist was the isolation of epinephrine from adrenal medulla. However, he was only able to isolate a monobenzoyl derivative of epinephrine. While he was improving his processes on decomposing the benzoyl derivative to obtain salts of epinephrine using saponification, a Japanese chemist J. Takamine, who had visited his lab, was able
John Abel The house design differs significantly from his later work in that it was built partially of stone. The stone window and ceiling beams of the house still survive, though the rest of the building was demolished. In March 1633, it is known that Abel was contracted again, this time by John, 1st Viscount Scudamore, to renovate Abbey Dore Church, a former Cistercian monastery in Herefordshire. The work was completed in March 1634, in time for the reconsecration of the building. Though there have been some minor alterations made to his work, the church remains the most intact example of Abel's