About Benno Müller-Hill
Lived 1933 – 2018 (aged 85). Benno Müller-Hill was a German biochemist, geneticist, university teacher and historian of science.
Benno Müller-Hill (5 February 1933 – 11 August 2018) was a German biologist and author. Together with Walter Gilbert, Müller-Hill purified the lac repressor, the first genetic control protein to be isolated.
Müller-Hill has lectured widely and written books on the misuse of science by the Nazis.
He was a professor of Genetics at the University of Cologne.
He wrote several journal articles including 'Genetics of susceptibility to tuberculosis: Mengele's experiments in Auschwitz' (2001) and 'The blood from Auschwitz and the silence of the scholars' (1999).
He also wrote Murderous Science: Elimination by Scientific Selection of Jews, Gypsies, and Others, Germany 1933-1945. It "is a devastating indictment of the role German scientists played in Nazi atrocities. It reveals how prominent scholars and physicians—many of whom were active in the international eugenics movement—not only acquiesced to anti-Semitic laws and extermination camps, but provided a scientific foundation for Hitler's racist policies, advised on the laws that were passed to implement these policies, helped administrate the Final Solution as well as euthanasia programs aimed at the mentally ill, and in extreme cases, such as Dr. Mengele at Auschwitz, personally murdered inmates "in the interests of science."
A video of him discusses genetics and eugenics can be found on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.
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Important facts
People in Benno Müller-Hill's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Benno Müller-Hill's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Benno Müller-Hill?
biochemist, geneticist (1933-2018)
When was Benno Müller-Hill born?
Benno Müller-Hill was born on 5 February 1933 in Freiburg im Breisgau.
When did Benno Müller-Hill die?
Benno Müller-Hill died on 11 August 2018 in Cologne.
What was Benno Müller-Hill's occupation?
Benno Müller-Hill was a biochemist, geneticist, university teacher and historian of science.
What nationality was Benno Müller-Hill?
Benno Müller-Hill was German.
Sources & further reading
· Wikipedia: Benno Müller-Hill
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Benno Müller-Hill. https://biography.guide/benno-muller-hill/
MLA: "Benno Müller-Hill." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/benno-muller-hill/.
Chicago: "Benno Müller-Hill." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/benno-muller-hill/.
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