Adolph_Wilhelm_Hermann

{{Infobox_Scientist
|name = Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
|image = Adolph Kolbe.jpg
|caption = Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
|birth_date = {{birth date|1818|9|27|mf=y}}
|birth_place = Elliehausen near [[Göttingen]], [[Germany]]
|residence = [[Germany]], [[England]]
|nationality = [[Germany|German]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1884|11|27|1818|9|27|mf=y}}
|death_place = [[Leipzig]], [[Germany]]
|field = [[Chemist]]
|work_institutions = [[University of Marburg]][[University of Leipzig]]
|alma_mater = [[University of Marburg]]
|doctoral_advisor = [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]], [[Friedrich Woehler|Friedrich Wöhler]]
|doctoral_students = [[Peter Griess]], [[Alexander Mikhailovich Zaitsev]], [[Theodor Curtius]], [[Ernst Otto Beckmann]], [[Carl Gräbe]], [[Oscar Loew]], [[Constantin Fahlberg]], [[Nikolaj Menšutkin]], [[Vladimir Markovnikov]], [[Edward Frankland]]
|known_for = [[Kolbe electrolysis]], [[Kolbe-Schmitt reaction]], [[Kolbe nitrile synthesis]]
|prizes =
|religion =
|footnotes =
}}

'''Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe''' ([[September 27]], [[1818]] – [[November 25]], [[1884]]) was a German [[chemist]]. He never used the first two of his given names, preferring to be known simply as Hermann Kolbe.

==Life==

Kolbe was born in Elliehausen, near [[Göttingen]], Kingdom of [[Hanover]] ([[Germany]]) as the eldest son of a Protestant pastor. At the age of 13 he entered the Göttingen Gymnasium, residing at the home of one of the professors. He obtained the leaving certificate (the [[Abitur]]) six years later. He had become passionate about the study of chemistry, matriculating at the [[University of Göttingen]] in the spring of 1838 in order to study with the famous chemist [[Friedrich Wöhler]].

In 1842 he became an assistant to [[Robert Wilhelm Bunsen]] at the [[University of Marburg]]; he took his doctoral degree there in 1843. A new opportunity arose in 1845, when he became assistant to [[Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair|Lyon Playfair]] at the new [[Museum of Economic Geology]] in London, where he became a close friend of [[Edward Frankland]]. From 1847 he was engaged in editing the ''Handwörterbuch der reinen und angewandten Chemie'' (''Dictionary of Pure and Applied Chemistry'') edited by [[Justus von Liebig]], Wöhler, and [[Johann Christian Poggendorff]], and he also wrote an important textbook. In 1851 Kolbe succeeded Bunsen as professor of chemistry at Marburg, and in 1865 he was called to the University of [[Leipzig]].

In 1853 he married Charlotte, the daughter of General-Major Wilhelm von Bardeleben. His wife died in 1876 after 23 years of happy marriage. They had four children.

==Work==

As late as the 1840s, and despite [[Wöhler synthesis|Friedrich Wöhler's synthesis of urea]] in 1828, some chemists still believed in the doctrine of [[vitalism]], according to which a special life-force was necessary to create organic compounds. Kolbe developed the idea that [[organic compound]]s could be derived from inorganic ones, directly or indirectly, by substitution processes. He validated his theory by converting [[carbon disulfide]], in several steps, to [[acetic acid]] (1843-45). Introducing a modified idea of structural [[free radical|radicals]], he contributed to the establishment of [[structural theory]]. One of the more dramatic successes of his theory was his prediction of the existence of secondary and tertiary [[alcohol]]s, a conjecture that was soon confirmed by the synthesis of these substances.

He worked on the [[electrolysis]] of the salts of [[fatty acid|fatty]] and other [[acid]]s ([[Kolbe electrolysis]])<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Untersuchungen über die Elektrolyse organischer Verbindungen
| author = Hermann Kolbe
| journal = [[Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie]]
| year = 1849
| volume = 69
| issue = 3
| pages = 257-372
| doi = 10.1002/jlac.18490690302}}</ref> and prepared [[salicylic acid]], a building block of [[aspirin]] in a process called [[Kolbe synthesis]] or [[Kolbe-Schmitt reaction]]<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Ueber Synthese der Salicylsäure
| author = Hermann Kolbe
| journal = [[Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie]]
| year = 1860
| volume = 113
| issue = 1
| pages = 125-127
| doi = 10.1002/jlac.18601130120}}</ref>. A certain method for the synthesis of nitriles is called the [[Kolbe nitrile synthesis]].

Hermann Kolbe was the first person to use the word [[chemical_synthesis|synthesis]] in the present day meaning.

With [[Edward Frankland]] he found that [[nitrile]]s can be hydrolyzed to the corresponding acids.

==Conflicts==

As editor of the ''Journal für praktische Chemie'' (''Journal of practical chemistry'', from 1870 to 1884), Kolbe was sometimes so severely critical of the work of others, especially after about 1874, that some wondered whether he might have been suffering a mental illness. He was intolerant of what he regarded as loose speculation parading as theory, and sought through his writings to save his beloved science of chemistry from what he regarded as the scourge of modern structural theory.

His rejection of structural chemistry, especially the theories of the structure of benzene by [[August Kekulé]], the theory of the asymmetric carbon atom by [[Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff|J.H. van't Hoff]], and the reform of chemical nomenclature by [[Adolf von Baeyer]], resulted in vituperative articles in the ''Journal für Praktische Chemie''. Some translated quotes illustrate his manner of articulating the deep conflict between his interpretation of chemistry and that of the structural chemists:
"...Baeyer is a excellent experimentor, but he is only an empiricist, lacking sense and capability, and his interpretations of his experiments show particular deficiency in his familiarity with the principles of true science..." <ref>{{cite journal
| title = Begründung meiner Urtheile über Ad. Baeyer's wissenschaftliche Qualification
| author = Hermann Kolbe
| journal = Journal für Praktische Chemie
| volume = 26
| issue = 1
| year = 1882
| pages = 308-323
| doi = 10.1002/prac.18820260121}} </ref>

The violence of his language worked unfairly to limit his posthumous reputation. He died of a heart attack, in [[Leipzig]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

*Alan J. Rocke (1993), ''The Quiet Revolution: Hermann Kolbe and the Science of Organic Chemistry'' (University of California Press).
*{{cite journal
| title = Zur Erinnerung an Hermann Kolbe
| author = E. von Meyer
| journal = Journal für Praktische Chemie
| volume = 30
| issue = 1
| year = 1884
| pages = 417 - 467
| doi = 10.1002/prac.18850300143}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolbe, Adolph Wilhelm Hermann}}

[[Category:1818 births]]
[[Category:1884 deaths]]
[[Category:German chemists]]

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