Hiller (Giller) Solomon Aronovich (b. 1915, Riga – d. 1975, Riga) – eminent chemist and organiser of science and industry in Latvia; Professor and Academician of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.

Solomon Hiller graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Latvia in 1941. During the Second World War, his entire family was murdered by the Nazis; he alone managed to escape from Riga. While evacuated, he worked at industrial plants in Stalingrad and Kazan.

In 1946, he returned to Riga and joined the Institute of Forestry Problems of the newly established Latvian Academy of Sciences. His innovative work transformed the utilisation of agricultural waste into a resource for organic synthesis and pharmaceutical production. In 1950, he became head of the furfural sector at the institute; in 1951, he was elected Corresponding Member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. That same year, Hiller received the Stalin Prize for developing the technology and organising the manufacture of the anti-tuberculosis drug PASK—the first achievement in medical chemistry in Latvia to be recognised by this highest state award.

In 1957, Solomon Hiller founded the Institute of Organic Synthesis of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (IOS) and directed it for 18 years until his death in 1975. Under his leadership, the Institute became the Soviet Union’s leading centre for medical chemistry and gained international renown. Its unique, integrated structure encompassed fundamental research through to the clinical realisation of pharmaceutical agents, all within one scientific centre. A key asset was its Experimental Plant, which enabled institute-developed drugs to be brought to clinical use.

Hiller’s team devised new organic reactions involving heterocycles—furans, aziridines, purines, and pyrimidines—and for the first time in Latvia began research in bioorganic chemistry and molecular biology. Notably, he was the first worldwide to propose—and execute the initial synthesis of—polymeric compounds analogous to nucleic acids capable of complementary interactions with natural templates. These pioneering efforts aimed to create a new class of genetic-level therapeutics.

In 1958, Hiller was elected Full Academician of the Latvian Academy of Sciences; in 1963, he became Academic Secretary and member of its Presidium, coordinating all of Latvia’s chemical and biological sciences for twelve years. From 1963 onwards, as a candidate member of the Communist Party Central Committee of Latvia, he significantly influenced the development of the republic’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries. In 1965, he was honoured as a Distinguished Scientist and Technician of the Latvian SSR and received the Latvian State Prize for his creation of the medical drugs furagin and imifos, as well as for industrial introduction of other pharmaceuticals. The same year, he founded the all‑Union periodical Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, serving as its editor‑in‑chief for ten years—a journal that o appeared in Russian (published in Riga) and in English (in the United States). From 1969, he chaired the USSR Scientific Council for the Chemistry and Technology of Organic Sulphur Compounds. His election, in 1972, to the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina marked international recognition. He also organised the VII International IUPAC Symposium on Natural Product Chemistry, held in Riga in 1970—a milestone in global chemical science.

Under his direction, the IOS developed twelve original drugs and established production technologies for over fifty pharmaceutical products for human medicine, veterinary use, and agriculture. Among the original drugs are: furagin (for urinary tract inflammations), imifos (for erythremia), remantadine (an antiviral agent), mildronate (for prevention of myocardial ischaemia), and ftorafur (tegafur) (for gastrointestinal cancers). Ftorafur was first synthesised in 1964, manufactured at the IOS Experimental Plant from 1969, and from 1991 by the joint-stock company Grindex in Riga. Since 1974, it has been exported to Japan, where it remains a widely used anticancer agent. Over 2,000 publications address its mechanisms of action and clinical applications.

Hiller authored more than 300 scientific papers, held 80 Soviet inventor’s certificates and 40 foreign patents. Thirty doctoral dissertations were defended under his supervision, and he served as scientific advisor for six doctoral candidates.

A towering scientist and academic leader, Hiller also possessed compelling intuition and charisma. He inspired students and young staff, excelled in public speaking, and was an articulate advocate for scientific creativity and breakthroughs.

Selected publications:

Гиллер С.А. Состояние и задачи научных исследований по синтезу физиологически активных полимерных веществ. Докл. на Всесоюз. совещ. по физиологически активным веществам (Hiller S.A. The state and tasks of research on the synthesis of physiologically active polymeric substances. Report at All‑Union Conference on Physiologically Active Substances), Riga, 1962.

Гиллер С.А., Жук Р.А, Лидак М.Ю. Аналоги пиримидиннуклеозидов. I. N1-(-фуранидильные) производные природных пиримидиновых оснований и их антиметаболитов. Докл. АН СССР, 1967, с.332-335 (Hiller S.A., Zhuk R.A., Lidak M.Yu. Pyrimidine nucleoside analogues. I. N¹-(furanylmethyl) derivatives of natural pyrimidine bases and their antimetabolites. Reports of the USSR Academy of Sciences) 1967, pp. 332–335.

Гиллер С.А. Конструирование лекарств (Hiller S.A. Designing Drugs, in Science and Humanity), Moscow, 1968, pp. 368–383.

Further reading:

Академик С.А.Гиллер. Биобиблиография. Сост.Е.Я.Пейле и И.Я.Рейнис. – Рига, Зинатне, 1967, 129 с.

Жук Регина. Латвийские химики синтезируют модели нуклеиновых кислот Наука и техника, Рига, 1972, №5, с.8–10. Успехи химии фурана. Ред. Э.Лукевиц. – Рига, Зинатне, 1978, 302 с. Жук Р.А. Новый отечественный противораковый препарат фторафур Изв.АН Латв.ССР,1980, №5, с.109–116.

С.А. Гиллер Жизнь и научная деятельность. Под ред. Я.Страдыня. – Рига, Зинатне, 1982, 391 с.

Страдынь Я. История создания фторафура Экспериментальная и клиническая фармакотерапия,1983, вып.12, с.5-10. Stradiņš J. Solomona Hillera mūža meti un paliekamais devums zinātnēLatvijas organiskās sintēzes institūts. 50. Pirmais pusgadsimts un nākotnes meti. J.Stradiņa un O.Pugoviča redakcija. – Rīga, Zinatne, 2007, lpp.259–271.

Страдынь Я. Становление и развитие Латвийского Института органического синтеза за 50 лет (1957–2006) ХГС, 2007, с. 171-191. Academician S.A. Hiller: Bio‑bibliography, comp. E.Ya. Peile & I.Ya. Reinis. Riga: Zinātne, 1967. Zhuk R.A. Latvian Chemists Synthesise Nucleic Acid Models. Science and Technology, Riga, 1972 (No. 5), pp. 8–10. Lukevics E. (ed.) Advances in Furan Chemistry. Riga: Zinātne, 1978. Zhuk R.A. New Domestic Anticancer Drug Ftorafur. Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, 1980 (No. 5), p. 109–116. S.A. Hiller: Life and Scientific Activity, ed. J. Stradiņš. Riga: Zinātne, 1982. Stradiņš J. The History of Ftorafur’s Development. Experimental and Clinical Pharmacotherapy, 1983 (No. 12), pp. 5–10. Stradiņš J. The Rise and Development of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis Over 50 Years (1957–2006). Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, 2007, pp. 171–191. Meister W.-V., Zhuk R., Lidak M., Hoffmann S. Nucleic Acid Chemistry: Three Decades Riga–Halle, a Decade IOSNAC. Scientia halensis, 1997, Vol. 2, p. 23.