Emanuele Paternò

Who was Emanuele Paternò?

Emanuele Paternò di Sessa was an Italian chemist, discoverer of the Paternò–Büchi reaction.

He was born as the Marquess di Sessa and studied at the University of Palermo with Stanislao Cannizzaro. 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.

He was politically active. He was the mayor of Palermo and a member of the regional parliament. He was also a member of the senate and vice president of the senate.