Ludwig Darmstaedter (9 August 1846 – 18 October 1927) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

. From 1865 he studied chemistry under

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 ...

and

Emil Erlenmeyer Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer (28 June 1825 – 22 January 1909), known simply as Emil Erlenmeyer, was a German chemist known for contributing to the early development of the theory of chemical structure and formulating the Erlenmeyer rul ...

at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, then furthered his education in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

as a student of

Hermann Kolbe Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe (27 September 1818 – 25 November 1884) was a German chemist and academic, and a major contributor to the birth of modern organic chemistry. He was a professor at Marburg and Leipzig. Kolbe was the first to apply t ...

. Afterwards, he relocated to Berlin, where he performed studies on alkali fusion of

sulfonic acid In organic chemistry, sulfonic acid (or sulphonic acid) refers to a member of the class of organosulfur compounds with the general formula , where R is an organic alkyl or aryl group and the group a sulfonyl hydroxide. As a substituent, it is kn ...

s in the laboratory of Karl Hermann Wichelhaus. From 1872, with Benno Jaffé, he was involved with industrial chemical research; e.g.

glycerin Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in pha ...

extraction. Later on in his career, he conducted investigations on the composition and synthesis of

lanolin Lanolin (from Latin 'wool', and 'oil'), also called wool fat, wool yolk, wool wax, sheep grease, sheep yolk, or wool grease, is a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals. Lanolin used by humans comes from domestic sheep br ...

.Darmstaedter, Ludwig
in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 3 (1957), S. 516 f. ( Georg Lockemann) His interest in the historical development of chemistry inspired him to compile an extensive collection of manuscripts of scientists ("''Dokumentensammlung Darmstaedter''") in the

Prussian State Library The Berlin State Library (; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany, and a property of the German public cultural organization the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (). Founded i ...

at Berlin. From 1917 onwards, Darmstaedter financed Wilhelm Doegen's efforts to record speech samples of persons of public interest. Since 1952 the

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is an annual award bestowed by the since 1952 for research in medicine. It carries a monetary prize of 120,000 Euro. The prize ceremony is traditionally held on the 14th of March, the birthday of Nob ...

has been awarded in Germany for outstanding contributions in the field of medicine.

Works

* Ludwig Darmstaedter, René du Bois-Reymond: ''4000 jahre pionier-arbeit in den exakten wissenschaften'', 1904.4000 jahre pionier-arbeit in den exakten wissenschaften
OCLC WorldCat * Ludwig Darmstaedter: ''Handbuch zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik''. Berlin 1908 (2nd edition). * Ludwig Darmstaedter: ''Königliche Bibliothek zu Berlin. Verzeichnis der Autographensammlung''. Berlin 1909. * Ludwig Darmstaedter: ''Naturforscher und Erfinder. Biographische Miniaturen''.

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

1926.

References

External links

* Zur Biographie: Berlinische Biographie in der Berlinischen Monatsschrift

1846 births 1927 deaths 19th-century German chemists 20th-century German chemists 19th-century German historians Scientists from Mannheim Heidelberg University alumni German male non-fiction writers People from the Grand Duchy of Baden {{Germany-chemist-stub