Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy (born Paul Felix Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy; 18 January 1841,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

– 17 February 1880, Berlin) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

and a pioneer in the manufacture of

aniline Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile startin ...

dye. He co-founded the Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation (AGFA), a German chemical company. He is not to be confused with his uncle, the banker Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who was the son of his grandfather

Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy Abraham Ernst Mendelssohn Bartholdy (born Abraham Mendelssohn; 10 December 1776 – 19 November 1835) was a German banker and philanthropist. He was the father of Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn, Rebecka Mendelssohn, and Paul Mendelssohn. ...

Life

Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy was the second son of the composer

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

and Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud. His aunt was

Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny Mendelssohn (14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847) was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was also known as Fanny (Cäcilie) Mendelssohn Bartholdy and, after her marriage, Fanny Hensel (as well as Fanny Mendelssohn He ...

. His grandfather was

. His maternal great-grandfather was

Daniel Itzig Daniel Itzig (also known as Daniel Yoffe 18 March 1723 in Berlin – 17 May 1799 in Potsdam) was a Court Jew of Kings Frederick II the Great and Frederick William II of Prussia. Biography Itzig was born in Berlin. His family was mercantile. I ...

, and his paternal great-grandfather was

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'Je ...

. He studied sciences at Heidelberg University, where

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 ...

was amongst his colleagues. After graduating in 1863 he went to Berlin to study with Wilhelm Hoffmann. He volunteered as a soldier in the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

of 1866, taking part in the

Battle of Königgrätz The Battle of Königgrätz (or Sadowa) was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire. It took place on 3 July 1866, near the Bohemian city of Hradec Králové (German: Königgrä ...

and becoming an officer. (He was later to be recalled for the Franco-Prussian War, where he won the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...

). After the Austro-Prussian War he met with Alexander Martius, a former student of

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 the ...

, who had set up a dye factory in England. They decided to enter a partnership to manufacture aniline in Germany, setting up a factory at the

Rummelsburg Rummelsburg () is a subdivision or neighborhood (''Ortsteil'') of the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg of the German capital, Berlin. History Rummelsburg was founded in 1669. On 30 January 1889 it became a rural municipality, with the name o ...

Lake near Berlin. In 1873 the firm took the name ' Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation', becoming in 1898 'AGFA'. Mendelssohn Bartholdy married his cousin Elisabeth Oppenheim (granddaughter of his great-uncle Joseph Mendelssohn) (1845–1868). She died shortly after the birth of their son Otto. Paul later married Elisabeth's sister Enole (1855–1939), by whom he had four children. In 1880, Mendelssohn Bartholdy died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

. After his death the company was led by his nephew

Franz Oppenheim Franz Oppenheim (born 13 July 1852 in Charlottenburg; died 13 February 1929 in Cairo) was a German chemist and industrialist who mainly worked for the Agfa company (now Agfa-Gevaert). His father was German jurist Otto Georg Oppenheim and his mot ...

(1852–1929) and his son

Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the Younger Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(1879-1956). In 1925, it became part of

IG Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agf ...

.Schoeps (2009), 241

Notes

Sources

* 1841 births 1880 deaths 19th-century German chemists German Calvinist and Reformed Christians German people of Jewish descent Paul German company founders German industrialists German chemical industry people Scientists from Leipzig 19th-century German businesspeople Agfa {{Germany-chemist-stub