Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 6
LIEBIG OR HOW TO POPULARIZE CHEMISTRY
Marika Blondel-Mégrelis
CNRS, Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques,
13 rue du Four, 75006 Paris, France; marika.blondel@club-internet.fr
The popularization of chemistry was one of Liebig's major tasks. I
examine why one of the most famous theoreticians and experimenters
of organic chemistry came to this new and rather unusual project in the
mid-nineteenth century, and how he managed to create a new image of
chemistry: no longer the servant of pharmacists and physicians, it must
be considered the most useful of all sciences and the most popular.
1. Introduction
Justus Liebig (1803-73) became famous as early as 1831 notably for his
Fünf-Kugel-Apparat
. The great number of his organic analyses, his theo-
ry of organic radicals, his personal and scientific battles, and the extra-
ordinary activities in his international laboratory contributed altogether to
make him one of the founders of the new organic chemistry, in opposi-
tion to Berzelius and in competition with Dumas and Laurent. Moreover,
being a chemist his name was an exceptionally well-known throughout
the world, and to this day. Even the European housemaid knew Liebig's
soup! Although Laurent and Liebig worked in the same years, mostly on
the same materials, thought about the same questions, stumbled on the
same difficulties, Laurent's name is much lesser known than that of
Liebig.
On his return from Great Britain in 1837, and in association with the
project of writing a book on agriculture, Liebig suddenly started an ener-
getic campaign. His idea was to communicate a new image of chemistry
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