Albert Ladenburg (born July 2, 1842 in Mannheim; died August 15, 1911 in Breslau) was a German chemist.
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Ladenburg was a member of a well known Jewish family in Mannheim. He was educated at a Realgymnasium at Mannheim and then, after the age of 15, at the technical school of Karlsruhe, where he studied mathematics and modern languages. He then proceeded to the University of Heidelberg where he studied Chemistry and Physics with Robert Bunsen. He also studied physics in Berlin. He got his Ph.D. in Heidelberg.
In Ghent, Ladenburg worked for 6 months with Kekulé who introduced him to structural theory. They worked on the structure of Benzene. Ladenburg's theory that benzene was a prismatic molecule turned out to be wrong. His proposed structure was eventually realised in 1973 in the molecule prismane.
Ladenburg visited England, and then went on to work for 18 months in Paris with Charles-Adolphe Wurtz and Charles Friedel on organosilicon compounds and tin compounds. He then returned to Heidelberg to teach.
In 1873, Ladenburg went to Kiel as professor of chemistry and director of the laboratory, remaining there until 1889 when he went to the University of Breslau in the same capacity. He was made an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1886 and received the Hanbury Medal for original research in chemistry in 1889.
Ladenburg isolated hyoscine, also known as scopolamine for the first time in 1880. In 1900 Ladenburg founded the Chemische Gesellschaft Breslau, which he managed until 1910.
His son, Rudolf (1882 - 1952), became an atomic physicist.