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August Wilhelm von Hofmann

Born

in Giessen, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Germany

April 08, 1818

Died

May 05, 1892

Website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Wilhelm_vo...

Genre

Science, Chemistry

Influences

August Kekulé, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Just ...more

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August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 1818 – 5 May 1892) was a German chemist.

Hofmann was born at Giessen, Grand Duchy of Hesse. Not intending originally to devote himself to physical science, he first took up the study of law and philology at Göttingen. But he then turned to chemistry, and studied under Justus von Liebig at University of Giessen. When, in 1845, a school of practical chemistry was started in London, under the style of the Royal College of Chemistry, Hofmann, largely through the influence of the Prince Consort, was appointed its first director. It was with some hesitation that he, then a Privatdozent at Bonn, accepted the position, which may well have seemed rather a precarious one; but the difficulty was removed by his appoin August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 1818 – 5 May 1892) was a German chemist.

Hofmann was born at Giessen, Grand Duchy of Hesse. Not intending originally to devote himself to physical science, he first took up the study of law and philology at Göttingen. But he then turned to chemistry, and studied under Justus von Liebig at University of Giessen. When, in 1845, a school of practical chemistry was started in London, under the style of the Royal College of Chemistry, Hofmann, largely through the influence of the Prince Consort, was appointed its first director. It was with some hesitation that he, then a Privatdozent at Bonn, accepted the position, which may well have seemed rather a precarious one; but the difficulty was removed by his appointment as extraordinary professor at Bonn, with leave of absence for two years, so that he could resume his career in Germany if his English proved unsatisfactory. Fortunately the college was more or less successful, owing largely to his enthusiasm and energy, and many of the men who were trained there subsequently made their mark in chemical history. In 1864 he returned to Bonn, and in the succeeding year he was selected to succeed Eilhard Mitscherlich as professor of chemistry and director of the laboratory in Berlin University.

Hofmann's work covered a wide range of organic chemistry. His first research, carried out in Liebig's laboratory at Giessen, was on coal tar and his investigation of the organic bases in naphtha established the nature of aniline. This substance he referred to as his first love, and it was a love to which he remained faithful throughout his life. His perception of the analogy between it and ammonia led to his famous work on the amines and ammonium bases and the allied organic phosphorus compounds, while his researches on rosaniline, which he first prepared, formed the first of a series of investigations on coloring matter which only ended with quinoline red in 1887.

The Hofmann rearrangement and Hofmann elimination reaction bear his namesake. Hofmann isolated sorbic acid from rowanberries' oil in 1859, a chemical compound that is widely used as a food preservative.

Hofmann also was the first to introduce molecular models into public lectures, around 1860 following the earlier (1855) suggestion by his colleague William Odling that carbon is tetravalent. Hofmann's colour scheme is still in use by some scientists: carbon = black, hydrogen = white, nitrogen = blue, oxygen = red, chlorine = green, and sulfur = yellow. His models look rather odd nowadays, primarily because Hofmann had them built so that they were, in essence, two-dimensional representations of molecules, and with the carbon atom smaller in size than the hydrogen. (It was Loschmidt in 1861 who probably first appreciated the variations in atomic sizes). After 1874, when Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff and Le Bel independently suggested organic molecules can be three-dimensional, molecular models began to assume their modern appearance.

William Henry Perkin was a student of Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, when he discovered the first aniline dye, mauveine.

Hofmann died in 1892 and was buried in Berlin's Friedhof der Dorotheenstädtischen und Friedrichswerderschen Gemeinden.

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1851. He was awarded the society's Royal Medal in 1854 and their Copley Medal in 1875.

The Hofmann voltameter is an apparatus for electrolyzing water, invented by August Wilhelm von Hofmann. It consists of three joined upright cylinders, usually glass. The inner cylinder is open at the top to allow addition of water and an ionic compound to improve conductivity, such as a small amount of sulphuric acid. A platinum electrode is placed inside the bottom of each of the two side cylinders, connected to the positive and negative terminals of a source of electricity. ...more

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August Wilhelm von Hofmann’s books

Average rating: 4.0 · 2 ratings · 0 reviews · 93 distinct works

	The Life-Work of Liebig liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2015 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jean Baptiste André Dumas 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Introduction to Modern Chemistry: Experimental and Theoretic; Embodying Twelve Lectures Delivered in the Royal College of Chemistry, London 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reports of the Royal College of Chemistry: And Researches Conducted in the Laboratories in the Years 1845-6-7 by August Wilhelm von Hofmann, Royal College of Chemistry Great Britain (Creator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Introduction to Modern Chemistry, Experimental and Theoretic: Embodying Twelve Lectures Delivered in the Royal College of Chemistry, London 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Question of a Division of the Philosophical Faculty (Classic Reprint): Inaugural Address 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2015 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Chemical Laboratories In Course Of Erection In The Universities Of Bonn And Berlin: Report Addressed To The Right Honourable The Lords Of The ... Most Honourable Privy Council On Education 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Zur Erinnerung an Gustav Magnus. Nach einem am 14. December 1870 in der General-Versammlung der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin, gehaltenen Vorträge 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Öffentliche Gesundheitspflege, Vol. 3 (Classic Reprint) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chemische Erinnerungen aus der Berliner Vergangenheit: Zwei Akademische Vorträge (Classic Reprint) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by August Wilhelm von Hofmann (?)

“People have wracked their brains for an explanation of benzene and how the celebrated man, August Kekulé, managed to come up with the concept of the benzene theory. With regard to the last point especially, a friend of mine who is a farmer and has a lively interest in chemistry has asked me a question which I would like to share with you. My 'agricultural friend' apparently believes he has traced the origins of the benzene theory. 'Has Kekulé,' so ran the question, 'once been a bee-keeper? You certainly know that bees too build hexagons; they know well that they can store the greatest amount of honey that way with the least amount of wax. I always liked it,' my agricultural friend went on, 'When I received a new issue of the Berichte; admittedly, I don't read the articles, but I like the pictures very much. The patterns of benzene, naphthalene and especially anthracene are indeed wonderful. When I look at the pictures I always have to think of the honeycombs of my bee hives.”
― August Wilhelm Von Hofmann

tags: agricultural, august-kekulé, bee, benzene, chemistry, friend, kekulé, science

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