Contrasting mentors for English-speaking chemistry students in Germany in the nineteenth century: Liebig, Wöhler, and Bunsen

Jones, Paul R.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127822 Copy

Description

Title

Contrasting mentors for English-speaking chemistry students in Germany in the nineteenth century: Liebig, Wöhler, and Bunsen

Author(s)

Jones, Paul R.

Issue Date

2012-03-15

Keyword(s)

• History
• Chemistry
• Review chemist mentor foreign student

Abstract

A review. Aspiring chemists in America and Britain in the mid-1800s, having completed undergraduate training at colleges or universities in their native countries, needed to search elsewhere to continue their training. Their instruction in chem. at Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, and other institutions consisted of lectures, perhaps embellished with some demonstrations. However, students had little or no access to lab. facilities themselves, their exposure to the science being passive rather than active. This essay compares and contrasts the experiences of the English-speaking foreign students, in particular the early ones, in their interactions with three prominent mentors: Friedrich Wohler, Justus von Liebig, and Robert Bunsen. The information has been collected from personal letters and from anecdotal accounts recorded, often more than once, in secondary sources.

Publisher

Division of the History of Chemistry

ISSN

1053-4385

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

article

Language

eng

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127822

DOI

https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2012v037p014

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Division of the History of Chemistry

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