Carl Schorlemmer

Carl Schorlemmer
Born (1834-09-30)30 September 1834
Darmstadt, German Confederation
Died 27 June 1892(1892-06-27) (aged 57)
Manchester, England
Residence Germany, England
Nationality German
Institutions Owens College now University of Manchester
Alma mater University of Heidelberg,
Victoria University of Manchester,
Doctoral advisor Robert Wilhelm Bunsen,
Henry Enfield Roscoe

Carl Schorlemmer FRS (30 September 1834 – 27 June 1892) was a German chemist who did research on hydrocarbons and contributed to the study of the history of chemistry.

Early life and education

Schorlemmer was born in 1834, the son of a joiner in Darmstadt. He was able to visit Realschule and later - against the will of his poor father- trade school. Schorlemmer started his training to become a pharmacist in 1853 in Groß-Umstadt. During his training he made own chemical experiments in the laboratory and was interested in astronomy and botany. After two and a half years he passed his exam, became an assistant pharmacist and worked in the Schwanen pharmacy in Heidelberg. Having attended some lectures of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, he studied pharmacy and chemistry in Heidelberg and in Gießen (where he attended lectures of Heinrich Will and Hermann Kopp, a historian of chemistry). He later became demonstrator at Owens College in Manchester with Henry Enfield Roscoe.

Professorship

From 1874 on, Schorlemmer was professor of organic chemistry in Manchester. Schorlemmer became a member of the Royal Society in the UK in 1871.[1]

Research

Writings

Schorlemmer wrote several books about organic chemistry, the most important one being A Treatise on Chemistry (1874), which he co-authored with Henry Roscoe. Schorlemmer is considered to have made an essential contribution to the history of chemistry as an academic field in his later works, culminating in his book The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry.

Towards the end of his life, Schorlemmer began to write a book about the history of chemistry from antiquity to the 17th century. He died before finishing his work, so it was never published, the manuscript covers about 1,100 pages and is stored in John Rylands Library.

Connections with Marx and Engels

Schorlemmer was a friend of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who asked him for advice on scientific questions. Engels published an obituary[2] of Schorlemmer in the Vorwärts, the central organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Engels said that Schorlemmer spent his holidays regularly in London with Marx and Engels when he did not visit Germany. Engels also claimed in his obituary that Schorlemmer was open about his allegiance to the Communist cause, and that Schorlemmer was unusual in that he held the German philosopher Hegel in high regard at a time when the latter was "much despised". Engels added that, "What we know today about paraffins, we owe mainly to Schorlemmer... Thus he became one the joint founders of today's scientific organic chemistry." For this connection with Marx and Engels, Schorlemmer is sometimes referred to as the "red" chemist.[3]

Death

Towards the end of his life, his health got worse, he died due to a lung disease at his house in Manchester on 27.June 1892. He was unmarried.

Selected writings

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Friedrich Engels - Carl Schorlemmer obituary (in German)
  3. ↑
    • Benfey, Theodor O.; Travis, Anthony S. (15 June 1992). "Carl Schorlemmer: The Red Chemist". Chemistry and Industry: 441–44.
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