Talk:William Roberts (physician)

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"Coining" the term enzyme

From Wilhelm_Kühne:

Kühne (1877), p. 190: "Um Missverständnissen vorzubeugen und lästige Umschreibungen zu vermeiden schlägt Vortragender vor, die ungeformten oder nicht organisirten Fermente, deren Wirkung ohne Anwesenheit von Organismen und ausserhalb derselben erfolgen kann, als Enzyme zu bezeichnen."
Translation : In order to avoid misunderstandings and cumbersome circumlocutions, the presenter proposes to designate as "enzymes"

It would appear as though Kühne was spelling it as "enzyme" already, meaning William Roberts just... used the word and definition from the German at that point?
Wiktionary says of the word: From German Enzym, coined 1878 by the German physiologist Wilhelm Kühne from Ancient Greek ἐν (en, “in”) +‎ ζύμη (zúmē, “sourdough”).
A source from google books (G.C. Ainsworth, Introduction to the History of Mycology, Cambridge University Press, Oct 21, 1976, p211) states:

...for which the term 'Enzym' was coined by W. Kühne in 1877 and anglicised as enzyme by William Roberts in 1881.

Borrowing of words from any language to another is not a notable thing in science, and the first person to use the word in the modern sense in this case was not Roberts, hence this information is not notable, aside from being wrong. I'm removing the section; if someone feels that anglicizing a word is a notable moment for a scientist and that it should be left it, it should probably be re-written as such, because it is incorrect as it stands. A Shortfall Of Gravitas (talk) 05:45, 5 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism to fix?

Apparently nonsensical changes were made on 25 January 2023. Fixes are needed. Phycophile (talk) 12:53, 23 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]