Carolyn Cobbold
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226727059
- eISBN:
- 9780226727196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226727196.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
British newspapers immediately heralded the invention of coal tar dyes as a victory for chemists and, in particular, Britain’s William Perkin. While experimenting with coal tar distillations of ...
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British newspapers immediately heralded the invention of coal tar dyes as a victory for chemists and, in particular, Britain’s William Perkin. While experimenting with coal tar distillations of aniline, Perkin synthesized mauveine, a vivid purple dye. Much of the rhetoric of wonder used by journalists was directly sourced from chemists themselves, particularly August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who ran the Royal College of Chemistry where Perkin made his discovery. However, it was not long before commentators became more skeptical of the dyes when their use in food and possible toxicity became known. The dyes became seen as foreign substances being used in food to deceive the consumer. Their image as a foreign interloper increased as production of the new dyes rapidly moved from Britain to Germany. By 1900, Germany manufactured 85% of the world’s production of chemical dyes compared with Britain’s 3%. Moreover, just five industrial companies controlled 90% of German production including BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, and AGFA. The German chemical industry benefitted from a close allegiance between industry, the government, and academia, part of the Naturwissenschaft, or science-based technology integral to Germany’s social, cultural, and political unification and its attempt to compete with the colony-rich economies of Britain and France.Less
British newspapers immediately heralded the invention of coal tar dyes as a victory for chemists and, in particular, Britain’s William Perkin. While experimenting with coal tar distillations of aniline, Perkin synthesized mauveine, a vivid purple dye. Much of the rhetoric of wonder used by journalists was directly sourced from chemists themselves, particularly August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who ran the Royal College of Chemistry where Perkin made his discovery. However, it was not long before commentators became more skeptical of the dyes when their use in food and possible toxicity became known. The dyes became seen as foreign substances being used in food to deceive the consumer. Their image as a foreign interloper increased as production of the new dyes rapidly moved from Britain to Germany. By 1900, Germany manufactured 85% of the world’s production of chemical dyes compared with Britain’s 3%. Moreover, just five industrial companies controlled 90% of German production including BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, and AGFA. The German chemical industry benefitted from a close allegiance between industry, the government, and academia, part of the Naturwissenschaft, or science-based technology integral to Germany’s social, cultural, and political unification and its attempt to compete with the colony-rich economies of Britain and France.
Lillian Hoddeson and Peter Garrett
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037532
- eISBN:
- 9780262345033
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037532.003.0019
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Reckless financing for expansion by its new management led ECD to file for bankruptcy in February 2012. That failure also ended Ovshinsky’s solar power effort. Work on his nickel metal hydride ...
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Reckless financing for expansion by its new management led ECD to file for bankruptcy in February 2012. That failure also ended Ovshinsky’s solar power effort. Work on his nickel metal hydride batteries, however, was continued by BASF, which purchased the Ovonic Battery Company. The batteries continue to be used widely, including in hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. Ovonyx was sold to Micron, and phase-change memory has now been developed by an Intel-Micron collaboration resulting in the recent memory device called 3D Xpoint, poised to become an important addition to information technology. Ovshinsky Innovation ended its work soon after Ovshinsky’s death, but a small new company has revived the name of Ovshinsky Innovation and is continuing some of Ovshinsky’s work.Less
Reckless financing for expansion by its new management led ECD to file for bankruptcy in February 2012. That failure also ended Ovshinsky’s solar power effort. Work on his nickel metal hydride batteries, however, was continued by BASF, which purchased the Ovonic Battery Company. The batteries continue to be used widely, including in hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius. Ovonyx was sold to Micron, and phase-change memory has now been developed by an Intel-Micron collaboration resulting in the recent memory device called 3D Xpoint, poised to become an important addition to information technology. Ovshinsky Innovation ended its work soon after Ovshinsky’s death, but a small new company has revived the name of Ovshinsky Innovation and is continuing some of Ovshinsky’s work.
