Albert Ladenburg

Albert Ladenburg
University of Heidelberg
Children	Rudolf Ladenburg
Awards	Davy Medal, 1905

Albert Ladenburg (2 July 1842 – 15 August 1911) was a German chemist.

Early life and education

Ladenburg was a member of the well-known

in Heidelberg.

Academic career

In 1873, Ladenburg went to

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

in 1905 "for his researches in organic chemistry, especially in connection with the synthesis of natural alkaloids".

Ladenburg also addressed the relation of religion and science in a book he published in 1904, where he dealt with the topics of "Science and spiritual life" and Christianity.[1]

Research

In Ghent, Ladenburg worked for 6 months with August 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.^[2] His proposed structure was eventually realised in 1973 in the molecule prismane.

Ladenburg visited

compounds. He then returned to Heidelberg to teach.

Family

His son, Rudolf (1882–1952), became an atomic physicist. Other Son Eric died in boating accident in the early 1900s.

Publications

• Entwicklungsgeschichte der Chemie von Lavoisier bis zur Gegenwart (History of the development of chemistry from Lavoisier to the present; 1868)
• Vorträge über die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Chemie in den letzten hundert Jahren. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1869. Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.
• Handwörterbuch der Chemie (Handy Dictionary of Chemistry; collaborator, 13 vols., 1882–96)
• Religion und Naturwissenschaft: eine Antwort an Professor Ladenburg (1904)
• Vortraege ueber die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Chemie von Lavoisier bis zur Gegenwart . Vieweg, Braunschweig 4th ed. 1907 Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• Lebenserinnerungen (Reminiscences; 1912)

References

Further reading

• Leopold Ladenburg (his father): Stammtafel der Familie Ladenburg, Verlag J. Ph. Walther, Mannheim, 1882.
• Albert Ladenburg: Lebenserinnerungen, Trewendt & Granier, Breslau, 1912.

External links

• Guide to the Albert Ladenburg Family Collection at the
  Leo Baeck Institute, New York
• Lectures on the History of Chemistry Since the Time of Lavoisier (1900) by Albert Ladenburg, Tr. Leonard Dobbin, from the 2nd edition of Entwicklungsgeschichte der Chemie von Lavoisier bis zur Gegenwart (1868).
• "Ladenburg, Albert" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.
• Stammtafel der Familie Ladenburg (1882)