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
Abel Socin as wealthy merchants in Italian goods. While resident in Bellinzona in 1551, the family received a confirmation of nobility from the Holy Roman Emperor. Abel Socin was a brother of burgomaster of Basel Emanuel Socin (1628–1717) and the great-grandfather of Abel Seyler, one of the preeminent theatre principals of 18th century Europe, who was named after him. He was married three times; the remains of his second wife Maria Hummel (1635–1681) were discovered in front of the Basel Minster in 2009, in what was Abel Socin's family grave, along with elaborate jewelry described by archaeologists as masterpieces from the era.