born Dec. 16, 1850, Munich, Bavaria
died April 5, 1902, Munich, Ger.
German bacteriologist.
He served as a physician in the Bavarian army in the 1870s and taught at the University of Munich from 1880 until his death. Buchner was one of the first to note that a substance in blood serum could destroy bacteria. He named the substance alexin; now known as complement, it consists of proteins called gamma globulins and is of great importance in immunology.