Franz Joseph Emil Fischer (19 March 1877 in Freiburg im Breisgau – 1 December 1947 in Munich) was a German chemist and father to Artur Fischer and Siegfried Fischer. He and Hans Tropsch discovered the Fischer-Tropsch process. With Hans Schrader he developed the Fischer Assay, a standardized laboratory test for determining the oil yield from oil shale to be expected from a conventional shale oil extraction. He also worked with Wilhelm Ostwald and Hermann Emil Fischer. In 1913 he became Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim.