The Karlsruhe Congress was an international meeting of chemists held in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
, Germany from 3 to 5 September 1860. It was the first international conference of chemistry worldwide.
The meeting
The Karlsruhe Congress was called so that European chemists could discuss matters of chemical nomenclature, notation, and atomic weights. The organization, invitation, and sponsorship of the conference were handled by
August Kekulé
Friedrich August Kekulé, later Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz ( , ; 7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896), was a German organic chemist. From the 1850s until his death, Kekulé was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially ...
, Adolphe Wurtz, and Karl Weltzien. As an example of the problems facing the delegates, Kekulé's ''Lehrbuch der Organischen Chemie'' gave nineteen different formulas used by chemists for
acetic acid
Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
, as shown in the figure on this page.
An understanding was reached on the time and place of the meeting, and printing of a circular addressed to European chemists listed below, which explained the objectives and goals of an international congress was agreed upon. The circular concluded: "...with the aim of avoiding any unfortunate omissions, the undersigned request that the individuals to whom this circular will be sent please communicate it to their scientist friends who are duly authorized to attend the planned conference."
The circular was sent to:
# Austria
##Innsbruck:
Heinrich Hlasiwetz
Heinrich Hlasiwetz (7 April 1825 – 7 October 1875) was an Austrian chemist born in Reichenberg, Bohemia.
Son of a pharmacist, he studied at the University of Jena, where his instructors included Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (1780-1849), H ...
.
##Vienna:
Anton Schrötter von Kristelli
Anton Schrötter von Kristelli (26 November 1802 – 15 April 1875) was an Austrian chemist and mineralogist born in Olomouc, Moravia. His son Leopold Schrötter Ritter von Kristelli (1837–1908) was a noted laryngology, laryngologist.
Academi ...
;
Leopold von Pebal
Leopold von Pebal (29 December 1826 – 17 February 1887) was an Austrian chemist.
In 1851 he obtained his PhD at the University of Graz, followed by several years working as an assistant at the Joanneum. In 1855 he became a privat-docent of ...
Anselme Payen
Anselme Payen (; 6 January 1795 – 12 May 1871) was a French chemist known for discovering the enzyme diastase, and the carbohydrate cellulose.
Biography
Payen was born in Paris. He began studying science with his father when he was a 13-yea ...
Antoine Jérôme Balard
Antoine Jérôme Balard (30 September 1802 – 30 April 1876) was a French chemist and one of the discoverers of bromine.
Career
Born at Montpellier, France, on 30 September 1802, he started as an apothecary, but taking up teaching he acted a ...
;
Auguste André Thomas Cahours
August André Thomas Cahours (1813–1891) was a French chemist and scientist whose contribution to organic chemistry was one of the greatest in history. He discovered, among other things, the processes of synthesis of several chemical molecules, i ...
;
Charles Adolphe Wurtz
Charles Adolphe Wurtz (; 26 November 181710 May 1884) was an Alsatian French chemist. He is best remembered for his decades-long advocacy for the atomic theory and for ideas about the structures of chemical compounds, against the skeptical opinio ...
;
Edmond Frémy
Edmond Frémy (; 28 February 1814 – 3 February 1894) was a French chemist. He is perhaps best known today for Frémy's salt, a strong oxidizing agent which he discovered in 1845. Fremy's salt is a long-lived free radical that finds use as a s ...
Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville
Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville (11 March 18181 July 1881) was a French chemist.
He was born in the island of St Thomas in the Danish West Indies, where his father was French consul. Together with his elder brother Charles he was educated ...
;
Henri Victor Regnault
Henri Victor Regnault (21 July 1810 – 19 January 1878) was a French chemist and physicist best known for his careful measurements of the thermal properties of gases. He was an early thermodynamicist and was mentor to William Thomson in ...
;
Jean-Baptiste Boussingault
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Dieudonné Boussingault (2 February 1801 – 11 May 1887) was a French chemist who made significant contributions to agricultural science, petroleum science and metallurgy.
Biography
Jean-Baptiste Boussingault – an agric ...
;
Jean-Baptiste Dumas
Jean Baptiste André Dumas (14 July 180010 April 1884) was a French chemist, best known for his works on organic analysis and synthesis, as well as the determination of atomic weights (relative atomic masses) and molecular weights by measuring v ...
;
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...
;
Théophile-Jules Pelouze
Théophile-Jules Pelouze (also known as Jules Pelouze, Théophile Pelouze, Theo Pelouze, or T. J. Pelouze, ; 26 February 180731 May 1867) was a French chemist.
Life
He was born at Valognes, and died in Paris.
His father, Edmond Pelouze, was an ...
.
##Rennes:
Faustino Malaguti
Faustino Giovita Mariano Malaguti (15 February 1802 – 26 April 1878) was a chemist. Born in pre-Unification of Italy, unification Italy, he was exiled and took French citizenship in 1840.
Biography
Malaguti was born in Pragatto near Bologna, wh ...
.
# Germany
##Berlin:
Eilhard Mitscherlich
Eilhard Mitscherlich (; 7 January 179428 August 1863) was a German chemist, who is perhaps best remembered today for his discovery of the phenomenon of crystallographic isomorphism in 1819.
Early life and work
Mitscherlich was born at Neuende ...
Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp
Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp (30 October 1817 – 20 February 1892), German chemist, was born at Hanau, where his father, Johann Heinrich Kopp (1777–1858), a physician, was professor of chemistry, physics and natural history at the local lyceu ...
.
##Göttingen:
Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler () FRS(For) HonFRSE (31 July 180023 September 1882) was a German chemist known for his work in inorganic chemistry, being the first to isolate the chemical elements beryllium and yttrium in pure metallic form. He was the firs ...
.
##Heidelberg:
Robert Bunsen
Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (;
30 March 1811
– 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. The Bu ...
Otto Linné Erdmann
Otto Linné Erdmann (11 April 1804 – 9 October 1869) was a German chemist. He was the son of Karl Gottfried Erdmann, the physician who introduced vaccination into Saxony.
He was born in Dresden on 11 April 1804. In 1820 he began to attend the ...
.
##Munich:
Justus von Liebig
Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at t ...
.
##Stuttgart:
Hermann von Fehling
Hermann von Fehling (9 June 1812 – 1 July 1885) was a German chemist, famous as the developer of Fehling's solution used for estimation of sugar.
Biography
Hermann von Fehling was born in Lübeck. With the intention of taking up pharmacy he e ...
.
##Tübingen:
Adolph Strecker
Adolph Strecker (October 21, 1822 – November 7, 1871) was a German chemist who is remembered primarily for his work with amino acids.
Life and work
Strecker was born in Darmstadt, the son of Friedrich Ludwig Strecker, an archivist working for ...
.
# Italy
##Genova:
Stanislao Cannizzaro
Stanislao Cannizzaro ( , also , ; 13 July 1826 – 10 May 1910) was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860.
Biography ...
.
##Turim:
Raffaele Piria
Raffaele Piria (Scilla 20 August 1814 – Turin 18 July 1865) was an Italian chemist from Scilla, who lived in Palmi. He converted the substance Salicin into a sugar and a second component, which on oxidation becomes salicylic acid, a major comp ...
.
# Russia
##Kasan:
Nikolay Nikolayevich Beketov
Nikolay Nikolayevich Beketov (russian: Николай Николаевич Бекетов; , Alferovka (now Beketovka), Penza Governorate, Russian Empire – , St. Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian Imperial physical chemist and metallur ...
Carl Julius Fritzsche
Carl Julius Fritzsche (17 October 1808 in Neustadt in Sachsen, Neustadt – 8 June 1871) was a German pharmacist and chemist. He was a nephew of pharmacist Friedrich Adolph August Struve (1781–1840).
After five years spent working at his unc ...
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac (24 April 1817 – 15 April 1894) was a Swiss chemist whose work with atomic weights suggested the possibility of isotopes and the packing fraction of nuclei. His study of the rare earth elements led to h ...
.
# United Kingdom
##London:
Alexander William Williamson
Prof Alexander William Williamson FRS FRSE PCS MRIA (1 May 18246 May 1904) was an English chemist. He is best known today for the Williamson ether synthesis.
Life
Williamson was born in 1824 in Wandsworth, London, the second of three child ...
;
August Wilhelm von Hofmann
August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 18185 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the g ...
;
Sir Edward Frankland
Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 18259 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was ...
;
William Odling
William Odling, FRS (5 September 1829 in Southwark, London – 17 February 1921 in Oxford) was an English chemist who contributed to the development of the periodic table.
In the 1860s Odling, like many chemists, was working towards classifying ...
.
##Manchester:
Henry Enfield Roscoe
Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe (7 January 1833 – 18 December 1915) was a British chemist. He is particularly noted for early work on vanadium, photochemical studies, and his assistance in creating Oxo (food), in its earlier liquid form.
Life an ...
.
##Oxford:
Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet
Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 2nd Baronet FRS (5 February 181724 November 1880) was an English chemist.
Biography
Brodie was the son of Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet, and his wife Anne (Née Sellon), and was educated at Harrow and ...
.
The Karlsruhe meeting ended with no firm agreement on the vexing problem of atomic and molecular weights. However, on the meeting's last day reprints of
Stanislao Cannizzaro
Stanislao Cannizzaro ( , also , ; 13 July 1826 – 10 May 1910) was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860.
Biography ...
's 1858 paper on atomic weights, in which he utilized earlier work by
Amedeo Avogadro
Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro, Count of Quaregna and Cerreto (, also , ; 9 August 17769 July 1856) was an Italian scientist, most noted for his contribution to molecular theory now known as Avogadro's law, which states that equal volumes ...
, were distributed. Cannizzaro's efforts exerted a heavy and, in some cases, an almost immediate influence on the delegates.
Lothar Meyer
Julius Lothar Meyer (19 August 1830 – 11 April 1895) was a German chemist. He was one of the pioneers in developing the earliest versions of the periodic table of the chemical elements. Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (his chief rival) and he ...
later wrote that on reading Cannizzaro's paper, "The scales seemed to fall from my eyes."
An important long-term result of the Karlsruhe Congress was the adoption of the now-familiar atomic weights. Prior to the Karlsruhe meeting, and going back to Dalton's work in 1803, several systems of atomic weights were in use. In one case, a value of 1 was adopted as the weight of hydrogen (the base unit), with 6 for carbon and 8 for oxygen. As long as there were uncertainties over atomic weights then the compositions of many compounds remained in doubt. Following the Karlsruhe meeting, values of about 1 for hydrogen, 12 for carbon, 16 for oxygen, and so forth were adopted. This was based on a recognition that certain elements, such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, were composed of
diatomic molecule
Diatomic molecules () are molecules composed of only two atoms, of the same or different chemical elements. If a diatomic molecule consists of two atoms of the same element, such as hydrogen () or oxygen (), then it is said to be homonuclear. Ot ...
s and not individual atoms.
Ihde has argued that the Karlsruhe meeting was the first international meeting of chemists and that it led to the eventual founding of the
International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
(IUPAC).
Attendance
The number of people who wanted to participate was considerable, and on 3 September 1860, 140 chemists met together in the meeting room of the second Chamber of State, which was made available by the
Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden
Frederick I (german: Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig; 9 September 1826 – 28 September 1907) was the Grand Duke of Baden from 1858 to 1907.
Life
Frederick was born in Karlsruhe, Baden, on 9 September 1826. He was the third son of Leopold, Gra ...
.
According to Wurtz, the printed list of members, supplemented by handwritten additions, contains 126 names listed below.
# Belgium:
#*''Brussels'': J. Stas;
#*''Ghent'': Donny, A. Kekulé
# Germany:
#*''Berlin'': Ad. Baeyer, G. Quinke;
#*''Bonn'': H. Landolt;
#*''Breslau'':
Lothar Meyer
Julius Lothar Meyer (19 August 1830 – 11 April 1895) was a German chemist. He was one of the pioneers in developing the earliest versions of the periodic table of the chemical elements. Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (his chief rival) and he ...
;
#*''Kassel'': Guckelberger,;
#*Klausthal: Streng;
#*''Darmstadt'' E. Winkler
#*''Erlangen'': v. Gorup-Besanez;
#*''Freiburg i. B.'': v. Babo, Schneyder (Woldemar Alexander Adolph von Schneider, 1843–1914);
#*''Giessen'': Boeckmann (Emil Boeckmann), H. Kopp, H. Will;
#*''Göttingen'': F. Beilstein;
#*''Halle a. S.'': W. Heintz;
#*''Hanover'':
Heeren
Heeren is a village and a former municipality in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Stendal,R. Bunsen, L. Carius, E. Erlenmeyer O. Mendius Schiel (Jacob Heinrich Wilhelm Schiel, 1813-1889);
#*''Jena'':
Lehmann
Lehmann is a German surname.
Geographical distribution
As of 2014, 75.3% of all bearers of the surname ''Lehmann'' were residents of Germany, 6.6% of the United States, 6.3% of Switzerland, 3.2% of France, 1.7% of Australia and 1.3% of Poland.
In ...
, H. Ludwig;
#*''Karlsruhe'': A. Klemm, R. Muller, J. Nessler,
Petersen
Petersen is a common Danish patronymic surname, meaning ''"son of Peter"''. There are other spellings. Petersen may refer to:
People In arts and entertainment
* Adolf Dahm-Petersen, Norwegian voice specialist
* Anja Petersen, German operatic ...
Hirzel
Hirzel is a former municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of Horgen.
History
Hirzel is first mentioned in 1269 as ''Hirs ...
, Knop, Kuhn;
#*''Mannheim'': Gundelach (Carl Gundelach) Schroeder
#*''Marburg a. L.'': R. Schmidt, Zwenger;
#*''Munich'': Geiger (Friedrich Geiger, 1833-1889);
#*''Nuremberg'': v. Bibra;
#*''Offenbach'': Grimm;
#*''Rappenau'': Finck;
#*''Schönberg'': R. Hoffmann (Gustav Reinhold Hoffmann, 1831-1919);
#*''Speyer'': Keller (Franz Keller), Mühlhaüser (Albert Mühlhaüser);
#*''Stuttgart'': v. Fehling, W. Hallwachs;
#*''Tübingen'': Finckh (Karl Finckh, von Winterbach,), A. Naumann, A. Strecker;
#*''Wiesbaden'': Kasselmann, R. Fresenius, C. Neubauer;
#*''Würzburg'':
Scherer Scherer and Scherrer is a German language surname widespread in German speaking Europe since the Middle Ages. With the beginning of colonization it also came to North and South America. It may refer to:
Scherer
* Alfredo Scherer (1903–1996), B ...
, V. Schwarzenbach (Valentin Schwarzenbach, 1830-1890)
# United Kingdom:
#*''Dublin'': Apjohn A.;
#*''Edinburgh'': Al. Crum Brown, Wanklyn, F. Guthrie;
#*''Glasgow'':
Anderson
Anderson or Andersson may refer to:
Companies
* Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910
* Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car
* Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer
* Anderson ...
;
#*''London'': B. F. Duppa (Baldwin Francis Duppa, 1828–1873), G. C. Foster,
Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
Abel
Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepher ...
# France:
#*''Montpellier'': A. Béchamp, A. Gautier, C. G. Reischauer;
#*''Mülhousen i. E.'': Th. Schneider;
#*''Nancy'': J. Nicklès;
#*''Paris'': Boussingault, J-B. Dumas, C. Friedel, L. Grandeau, Le Canu (Louis René Le Canu, 1800–1871), Persoz, Alf. Riche (Jean Baptiste Leopold Alfred Riche, 1829-1908), P. Thénard, Verdét, C.-A. Wurtz;
#*''Strasbourg i. E.'': Jacquemin (Eugène Théodore Jacquemin, 1828–1909), Oppermann (Charles Oppermann, 1805-1872), F. Schlagdenhaussen (Frédéric Charles Schlagdenhauffen, 1830–1907), P. Schützenberger;
#*''Tann'': Ch. Kestner, Scheurer-Kestner
# Italy:
#*''Genoa'': Cannizzaro;
#*''Pavia'': Pavesi (Angelo Pavesi)
# Mexico: Posselt (Louis Posselt, 1817-1880, brother of Christian Posselt)
# Austria:
#*''Innsbruck'': Hlasiwetz;
#*''Lemberg'': Pebal;
#*''Pesth'': Th. Wertheim;
#*''Vienna'': V. v. Lang, A. Lieben, Folwarezny (Carl Folwarezny), F. Schneider
# Portugal:
#*''Coimbra'': Mide Carvalho (Mathias de Carvalho e Vasconcellos, 1832-1910)
#Russia:
#*''Kharkov:'' Sawitsch;
#*''St. Petersburg:''
Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin ( rus, link=no, Александр Порфирьевич Бородин, Aleksandr Porfir’yevich Borodin , p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr pɐrˈfʲi rʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bərɐˈdʲin, a=RU-Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.ogg, ...
Jakub Natanson
Jakub Natanson (20 August 1832 – 14 September 1884) was a Polish chemist and banker, one of the discoverers of Fuchsine. He wrote the first textbook on organic chemistry in the Polish language.
Life
He was born 20 August 1832 in Warsaw as th ...
.
#Sweden:
#*''Harpenden:'' J. H. Gilbert;
#*''Lund:''
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
* (subscription required)
*
*
: (Note the incorrect spelling of Weltzien's name.)
*
: (Originally published in 1964.)
*
*
: (Note the incorrect month given for the conference.)
* {{cite book , title=The Question of the Atom: From the Karlsruhe Congress to the First Solvay Conference, 1860–1911 , last=Nye , first=Mary Jo , publisher=Springer , year=1984 , isbn=978-0-938228-07-3 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/questionofatomfr0000unse