Biography of Johannes Wislicenus (1835-1902)

Truman State University, Kirksville MO

Investigators

Abstract

This grant will support archival and library research on a projected biography of Johannes Wislicenus (1835-1902), a major chemist of the nineteenth century whose career has yet to receive extensive study by historians. An outgrowth of the PIs recently completed book on the early history of stereochemistry, the goal of this project is to gather additional archival and published material on Wislicenus's youth as the son of the radical free-thinking theologian, Gustav Wislicenus (1803-1877), on his experiences as a failed immigrant to America, on his professional development with Wilhelm Heintz at the University of Halle, and on his role as director of three major research groups in Zurich, Wurzburg, and Leipzig. The proposed biography will discuss the formation of a scientific personality, religion and science, the atomic theory in nineteenth-century chemistry, and the structure and purpose of research groups in science. The completed biography will also frame Wislicenus as a member of a particular generation of chemists born during the 1830s, and make comparisons of Wislicenus's personal style of doing and teaching science with other chemists of his generation. The final biography will therefore be of interest to historians of science, German historians, and practicing chemists.