Carl Schorlemmer

Carl Schorlemmer
Born	(1834-09-30)30 September 1834 Darmstadt, Germany
Died	27 June 1892(1892-06-27) (aged 57) Manchester, England
Residence	Germany, England
Nationality	German
Institutions	Owens College now University of Manchester
Alma mater	University of Heidelberg, Victoria University of Manchester,
Doctoral advisor	Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, Henry Enfield Roscoe

Carl Schorlemmer FRS (30 September 1834 – 27 June 1892) was a German chemist who did research on hydrocarbons and contributed to the study of the history of chemistry.

Early life and education

Schorlemmer was born in 1834, the son of a joiner in Darmstadt. Schorlemmer became a trained pharmacist and worked in a pharmacy in Heidelberg. After attending some lectures of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, he began studying chemistry in Heidelberg and Gießen. He later became demonstrator at Owens College in Manchester with Henry Enfield Roscoe.

Professorship

From 1874 on, Schorlemmer was professor of organic chemistry in Manchester. Schorlemmer became a member of the Royal Society in the UK in 1871.^[1]

Writings

Schorlemmer wrote several books about organic chemistry, the most important one being A Treatise on Chemistry (1874), which he co-authored with Henry Roscoe. Schorlemmer is considered to have made an essential contribution to the history of chemistry as an academic field in his later works, culminating in his book The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry.

Connections with Marx and Engels

Schorlemmer was a friend of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who asked him for advice on scientific questions. Engels published an obituary^[2] of Schorlemmer in the Vorwärts, the central organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Engels said that Schorlemmer spent his holidays regularly in London with Marx and Engels when he did not visit Germany. Engels also claimed in his obituary that Schorlemmer was open about his allegiance to the Communist cause, and that Schorlemmer was unusual in that he held the German philosopher Hegel in high regard at a time when the latter was "much despised". Engels added that, "What we know today about paraffins, we owe mainly to Schorlemmer... Thus he became one the joint founders of today's scientific organic chemistry." For this connection with Marx and Engels, Schorlemmer is sometimes referred to as the "red" chemist.^[3]

Death

He died at his house in Manchester. He was unmarried.

Selected writings

• A Manual of Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds; or, Organic Chemistry (1874)
• A Treatise on Chemistry (1877) - with Henry Roscoe
• Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry (1879)

References

1. ↑
   • Dixon, Harold B. (1893). "Memoir of the Late Carl Schorlemmer. L.L.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.". Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society 7: 191–198. - contains a list of Schorlemmer's publications
2. ↑ Friedrich Engels - Carl Schorlemmer obituary (in German)
3. ↑
   • Benfey, Theodor O.; Travis, Anthony S. (1992, 15 June). "Carl Schorlemmer: The Red Chemist". Chemistry and Industry: 441–44.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)