Charles-Adolphe Wurtz
Encyclopedia
Adolphe Wurtz was an Alsatian
French chemist
. He is best remembered for his decades-long advocacy for the atomic theory and for ideas about the structures of chemical compounds, against the skeptical opinions of chemists such as Marcellin Berthelot
and Etienne Henri Sainte-Claire Deville. He is well known by organic chemists for the Wurtz reaction
, to form carbon-carbon bonds by reacting alkyl halides with sodium, and for his discoveries of ethylamine
, ethylene glycol
, and the aldol reaction
. Wurtz was also an influential writer and educator.
, near Strasbourg
, where his father was Lutheran pastor
. Strasbourg was and is the capital of the French border province of Alsace
, which had been part of Germany until the seventeenth century; most residents spoke both French and Alsatian, a dialect of German. Consequently, the German influence on Wurtz was strong. When he left the Protestant gymnasium
at Strasbourg in 1834, his father allowed him to study medicine
as next best to theology
. He devoted himself specially to the chemical side of his profession with such success that in 1839 he was appointed Chef des travaux chimiques at the Strasbourg faculty of medicine. For the summer semester of 1842 he studied under Justus von Liebig
at the University of Giessen
. After graduating from Strasbourg as M.D. in 1843, with a thesis on albumin
and fibrin
, he went to Paris, where he worked in Jean Baptiste Dumas's private laboratory
. In 1845, he became assistant to Dumas at the École de Médecine, and four years later began to give lectures on organic chemistry
in his place. As there was no laboratory at his disposal at the Ecole de Médecine, he opened a private one in 1850 in the Rue Garanciere; but three years later the building was sold, and the laboratory had to be abandoned. In 1850, he received the professorship of chemistry at the new Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon
at Versailles
, but the Institut was abolished in 1852. In the following year the chair of "pharmacy and organic chemistry" at the faculty of medicine became vacant by the resignation of Dumas, and the chair of "medical chemistry" by the death of Mathieu Orfila
. Both of these chairs were now abolished, and Wurtz was appointed to the newly defined post of "organic and mineral chemistry". (At the same time, a new chair devoted exclusively to pharmacy was awarded to Eugene Soubeiran
). In 1866, Wurtz undertook the duties of dean of the faculty of medicine. In this position, he exerted himself to secure the rearrangement and reconstruction of the buildings devoted to scientific instruction, urging that in the provision of properly equipped teaching laboratories France was much behind Germany (see his report Les Hautes Etudes pratiques dans les universités allemandes, 1870).
In 1875, resigning the office of dean but retaining the title of honorary dean, he became the first occupant of a new chair of organic chemistry at the Sorbonne
, which the government had established due to his influence. However, he had great difficulty in obtaining an adequate laboratory. The buildings of the new Sorbonne that ultimately provided modern scientific laboratories were not completed until 1894, ten years after his death.
Wurtz was an honorary member of almost every scientific society in Europe. He was the principal founder of the Paris Chemical Society
(1858), was its first secretary and thrice served as its president. In 1880, he was vice-president and in 1881 president of the French Academy of Sciences
, which he entered in 1867 in succession to Théophile-Jules Pelouze
. In 1881, Wurtz was elected life senator
. Wurtz's name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel tower
.
Wurtz died in Paris in 1884, probably of complications due to diabetes, and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery
and Alexander Williamson
. This new chemistry of the 1850s took the idea of chemical atoms seriously, adopted atomic weights for the elements that strongly resemble the modern ones, and proposed a unitary schematic plan that opposed the dualistic theory derived from the work of Jons Jacob Berzelius. Soon thereafter, Wurtz also adopted the new structural theory that was developing from the work of younger chemists such as August Kekulé. However, a kind of skeptical positivism was influential in France during the second half of the nineteenth century, and Wurtz's efforts to gain a favorable hearing for atomism and structuralism in his homeland were largely frustrated.
Wurtz's first published paper was on hypophosphorous acid
(1841), and the continuation of his work on the acids of phosphorus
(1845) resulted in the discovery of sulfophosphoric acid and phosphorus oxychloride, as well as of copper hydride
. But his original work was mainly in the domain of organic chemistry. Investigation of the cyanic ethers (1848) yielded a class of substances which opened out a new field in organic chemistry, for, by treating those ethers with caustic potash
, he obtained methylamine
, the simplest organic derivative of ammonia
(1849), and later (1851) the compound urea
s. In 1855, reviewing the various substances that had been obtained from glycerin, he reached the conclusion that glycerin is a body of alcohol
ic nature formed on the type of three molecules of water, as common alcohol is on that of one, and was thus led (1856) to the discovery of the glycols or diatonic alcohols, bodies similarly related to the double water type. This discovery he worked out very thoroughly in investigations of ethylene oxide
and the polyethylene
alcohols. The oxidation of the glycols led him to homologues of lactic acid
, and a controversy about the constitution of the latter with Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
resulted in the discovery of many new facts and in a better understanding of the relations between the oxy- and the amido-acids. In 1855, he published work on what is now known as the Wurtz reaction
.
In 1867 Wurtz synthesized neurine
by the action of trimethylamine
on glycol-chlorhydrin. In 1872 he discovered the aldol reaction
and characterized the product as showing the properties of both an alcohol and an aldehyde
. The product was named an aldol
, pointing out its double character. This led to a second confrontation with Kolbe.
In addition to this list of some of the new substances he prepared, reference may be made to his work on abnormal vapor densities. While working on the olefins he noticed that a change takes place in the density of the vapor of amylene hydrochloride, hydrobromide, &c, as the temperature is increased, and in the gradual passage from a gas of approximately normal density to one of half-normal density he saw a powerful argument in favor of the view that abnormal vapor densities, such as are exhibited by sal-ammoniac or phosphorus pentachloride. are to be explained by dissociation. From 1865 onwards he treated this question in several papers, and in particular maintained the dissociation of vapor of chloral hydrate, in opposition to Etienne Henri Sainte-Claire Deville and Marcellin Berthelot
.
For twenty-one years (1852–1872) Wurtz published in the Annales de chimie et de physique
abstracts of chemical work done out of France. The publication of his great Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée, in which he was assisted by many other French chemists, was begun in 1869 and finished in 1878; two supplementary volumes were issued 1880–1886, and in 1892 the publication of a second supplement was begun. Among his books are Chimie médicale (1864), Leçons élémentaires de chimie moderne (1867), Théorie des atomes dans la conception générale du monde (1874), La Théorie atomique (1878), Progrés de l'industrie des matières colorantes artificielles (1876) and Traité de chimie biologique (1880–1885). His Histoire des doctrines chimiques, the introductory discourse to his Dictionnaire (also published separately in 1869), opens with the phrase, La chimie est une science française. Although it raised a storm of protest in Germany, the sentence is less nationalistic than it appears; he intended to refer only to the birth of chemistry under the great Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, rather than asserting exclusive French national ownership of the science.
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
French chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
. He is best remembered for his decades-long advocacy for the atomic theory and for ideas about the structures of chemical compounds, against the skeptical opinions of chemists such as Marcellin Berthelot
Marcellin Berthelot
Marcelin Pierre Eugène Berthelot was a French chemist and politician noted for the Thomsen-Berthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substances and disproved the theory of vitalism. He is considered as one of the greatest chemists of all time.He...
and Etienne Henri Sainte-Claire Deville. He is well known by organic chemists for the Wurtz reaction
Wurtz reaction
The Wurtz reaction, named after Charles-Adolphe Wurtz, is a coupling reaction in organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and recently inorganic main group polymers, whereby two alkyl halides are reacted with sodium to form a new carbon-carbon bond:...
, to form carbon-carbon bonds by reacting alkyl halides with sodium, and for his discoveries of ethylamine
Ethylamine
Ethylamine is an organic compound with the formula CH3CH2NH2. This colourless gas has a strong ammonia-like odor. It is miscible with virtually all solvents and is considered to be a weak base, as is typical for amines. Ethylamine is widely used in chemical industry and organic...
, ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol is an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze and a precursor to polymers. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet-tasting liquid...
, and the aldol reaction
Aldol reaction
The aldol reaction is a powerful means of forming carbon–carbon bonds in organic chemistry.Discovered independently by Charles-Adolphe Wurtz and Alexander Porfyrevich Borodin in 1872, the reaction combines two carbonyl compounds to form a new β-hydroxy carbonyl compound...
. Wurtz was also an influential writer and educator.
Life
Adolphe Wurtz (he never used the name "Charles") was born at WolfisheimWolfisheim
Wolfisheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.- References :*...
, near Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, where his father was Lutheran pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
. Strasbourg was and is the capital of the French border province of Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, which had been part of Germany until the seventeenth century; most residents spoke both French and Alsatian, a dialect of German. Consequently, the German influence on Wurtz was strong. When he left the Protestant gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
at Strasbourg in 1834, his father allowed him to study medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
as next best to theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
. He devoted himself specially to the chemical side of his profession with such success that in 1839 he was appointed Chef des travaux chimiques at the Strasbourg faculty of medicine. For the summer semester of 1842 he studied under Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...
at the University of Giessen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
. After graduating from Strasbourg as M.D. in 1843, with a thesis on albumin
Serum albumin
Serum albumin, often referred to simply as albumin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ALB gene.Serum albumin is the most abundant plasma protein in mammals. Albumin is essential for maintaining the osmotic pressure needed for proper distribution of body fluids between intravascular...
and fibrin
Fibrin
Fibrin is a fibrous, non-globular protein involved in the clotting of blood. It is a fibrillar protein that is polymerised to form a "mesh" that forms a hemostatic plug or clot over a wound site....
, he went to Paris, where he worked in Jean Baptiste Dumas's private laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
. In 1845, he became assistant to Dumas at the École de Médecine, and four years later began to give lectures on organic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
in his place. As there was no laboratory at his disposal at the Ecole de Médecine, he opened a private one in 1850 in the Rue Garanciere; but three years later the building was sold, and the laboratory had to be abandoned. In 1850, he received the professorship of chemistry at the new Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon
Institut national agronomique Paris-Grignon
The Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon was a French grande école. It was created in 1971 by merging the Institut national agronomique and the École nationale supérieure d'Agronomie de Grignon, thus having a history that goes back to 1826.INA P-G disappeared as an administrative entity on...
at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, but the Institut was abolished in 1852. In the following year the chair of "pharmacy and organic chemistry" at the faculty of medicine became vacant by the resignation of Dumas, and the chair of "medical chemistry" by the death of Mathieu Orfila
Mathieu Orfila
Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila was a Spanish-born French toxicologist and chemist, the founder of the science of toxicology.- Role in Forensic Toxicology :...
. Both of these chairs were now abolished, and Wurtz was appointed to the newly defined post of "organic and mineral chemistry". (At the same time, a new chair devoted exclusively to pharmacy was awarded to Eugene Soubeiran
Eugène Soubeiran
Eugène Soubeiran was a French scientist who served as chief pharmacist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. He was one of three researchers who discovered chloroform independently of one another...
). In 1866, Wurtz undertook the duties of dean of the faculty of medicine. In this position, he exerted himself to secure the rearrangement and reconstruction of the buildings devoted to scientific instruction, urging that in the provision of properly equipped teaching laboratories France was much behind Germany (see his report Les Hautes Etudes pratiques dans les universités allemandes, 1870).
In 1875, resigning the office of dean but retaining the title of honorary dean, he became the first occupant of a new chair of organic chemistry at the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, which the government had established due to his influence. However, he had great difficulty in obtaining an adequate laboratory. The buildings of the new Sorbonne that ultimately provided modern scientific laboratories were not completed until 1894, ten years after his death.
Wurtz was an honorary member of almost every scientific society in Europe. He was the principal founder of the Paris Chemical Society
EDP Sciences
EDP Sciences, Edition Diffusion Presse Sciences is a scientific publisher with an international vision but a French base.This society is involved in the communication and dissemination of scientific information to specialist audiences and non-specialist audiences alike...
(1858), was its first secretary and thrice served as its president. In 1880, he was vice-president and in 1881 president of the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
, which he entered in 1867 in succession to Théophile-Jules Pelouze
Théophile-Jules Pelouze
Théophile-Jules Pelouze was a French chemist. He was born at Valognes, and died in Paris....
. In 1881, Wurtz was elected life senator
Senator for life
A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , 7 Italian Senators out of 322, 4 out of the 47 Burundian Senators and all members of the British House of Lords have lifetime tenure...
. Wurtz's name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel tower
The 72 names on the Eiffel Tower
On the Eiffel Tower, seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers and some other notable people are engraved in recognition of their contributions. This is according to the design by Gustave Eiffel. The engravings are found on the sides of the tower under the first balcony...
.
Wurtz died in Paris in 1884, probably of complications due to diabetes, and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
Scientific and academic work
Influenced by such leading figures as Liebig and Dumas, by 1856 Wurtz became a powerful advocate of a reform in chemical theory then being led by Charles GerhardtCharles Gerhardt
Charles Gerhardt may refer to:*Charles Frédéric Gerhardt , French chemist*Charles H. Gerhardt , American general*Charles Gerhardt , American conductor...
and Alexander Williamson
Alexander William Williamson
Alexander William Williamson FRS was an English chemist of Scottish descent. He is best known today for the Williamson ether synthesis.-Biography:...
. This new chemistry of the 1850s took the idea of chemical atoms seriously, adopted atomic weights for the elements that strongly resemble the modern ones, and proposed a unitary schematic plan that opposed the dualistic theory derived from the work of Jons Jacob Berzelius. Soon thereafter, Wurtz also adopted the new structural theory that was developing from the work of younger chemists such as August Kekulé. However, a kind of skeptical positivism was influential in France during the second half of the nineteenth century, and Wurtz's efforts to gain a favorable hearing for atomism and structuralism in his homeland were largely frustrated.
Wurtz's first published paper was on hypophosphorous acid
Hypophosphorous acid
Hypophosphorous acid is a phosphorus oxoacid and a powerful reducing agent with molecular formula H3PO2. Inorganic chemists refer to the free acid by this name , or the acceptable name of phosphinic acid. It is a colorless low-melting compound, which is soluble in water, dioxane, and alcohols...
(1841), and the continuation of his work on the acids of phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
(1845) resulted in the discovery of sulfophosphoric acid and phosphorus oxychloride, as well as of copper hydride
Copper hydride
Copper hydride is a binary compound of hydrogen and copper. The Cu-H bond is weak and therefore the compound when formed is unstable. The reaction of copper sulfate and sodium hypophosphite with some sulfuric acid gives a red-colored precipitate. By heating the precipitate it decomposes to...
. But his original work was mainly in the domain of organic chemistry. Investigation of the cyanic ethers (1848) yielded a class of substances which opened out a new field in organic chemistry, for, by treating those ethers with caustic potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
, he obtained methylamine
Methylamine
Methylamine is the organic compound with a formula of CH3NH2. This colourless gas is a derivative of ammonia, but with one H atom replaced by a methyl group. It is the simplest primary amine. It is sold as a solution in methanol, ethanol, THF, and water, or as the anhydrous gas in pressurized...
, the simplest organic derivative of ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
(1849), and later (1851) the compound urea
Urea
Urea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. The molecule has two —NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl functional group....
s. In 1855, reviewing the various substances that had been obtained from glycerin, he reached the conclusion that glycerin is a body of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
ic nature formed on the type of three molecules of water, as common alcohol is on that of one, and was thus led (1856) to the discovery of the glycols or diatonic alcohols, bodies similarly related to the double water type. This discovery he worked out very thoroughly in investigations of ethylene oxide
Ethylene oxide
Ethylene oxide, also called oxirane, is the organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether. This means that it is composed of two alkyl groups attached to an oxygen atom in a cyclic shape . This colorless flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor is the simplest epoxide, a three-membered...
and the polyethylene
Polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...
alcohols. The oxidation of the glycols led him to homologues of lactic acid
Lactic acid
Lactic acid, also known as milk acid, is a chemical compound that plays a role in various biochemical processes and was first isolated in 1780 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Lactic acid is a carboxylic acid with the chemical formula C3H6O3...
, and a controversy about the constitution of the latter with Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe
Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe was a German chemist. He never used the first two of his given names, preferring to be known as Hermann Kolbe.-Life:...
resulted in the discovery of many new facts and in a better understanding of the relations between the oxy- and the amido-acids. In 1855, he published work on what is now known as the Wurtz reaction
Wurtz reaction
The Wurtz reaction, named after Charles-Adolphe Wurtz, is a coupling reaction in organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and recently inorganic main group polymers, whereby two alkyl halides are reacted with sodium to form a new carbon-carbon bond:...
.
In 1867 Wurtz synthesized neurine
Neurine
Neurine is an alkaloid found in egg yolk, brain, bile and in cadavers. It is formed during putrefaction of biological tissues by the dehydration of choline. It is a poisonous, syrupy liquid with a fishy odor....
by the action of trimethylamine
Trimethylamine
Trimethylamine is an organic compound with the formula N3. This colorless, hygroscopic, and flammable tertiary amine has a strong "fishy" odor in low concentrations and an ammonia-like odor at higher concentrations...
on glycol-chlorhydrin. In 1872 he discovered the aldol reaction
Aldol reaction
The aldol reaction is a powerful means of forming carbon–carbon bonds in organic chemistry.Discovered independently by Charles-Adolphe Wurtz and Alexander Porfyrevich Borodin in 1872, the reaction combines two carbonyl compounds to form a new β-hydroxy carbonyl compound...
and characterized the product as showing the properties of both an alcohol and an aldehyde
Aldehyde
An aldehyde is an organic compound containing a formyl group. This functional group, with the structure R-CHO, consists of a carbonyl center bonded to hydrogen and an R group....
. The product was named an aldol
Aldol
An aldol or aldol adduct is a beta-hydroxy ketone or aldehyde, and is the product of aldol addition ....
, pointing out its double character. This led to a second confrontation with Kolbe.
In addition to this list of some of the new substances he prepared, reference may be made to his work on abnormal vapor densities. While working on the olefins he noticed that a change takes place in the density of the vapor of amylene hydrochloride, hydrobromide, &c, as the temperature is increased, and in the gradual passage from a gas of approximately normal density to one of half-normal density he saw a powerful argument in favor of the view that abnormal vapor densities, such as are exhibited by sal-ammoniac or phosphorus pentachloride. are to be explained by dissociation. From 1865 onwards he treated this question in several papers, and in particular maintained the dissociation of vapor of chloral hydrate, in opposition to Etienne Henri Sainte-Claire Deville and Marcellin Berthelot
Marcellin Berthelot
Marcelin Pierre Eugène Berthelot was a French chemist and politician noted for the Thomsen-Berthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substances and disproved the theory of vitalism. He is considered as one of the greatest chemists of all time.He...
.
For twenty-one years (1852–1872) Wurtz published in the Annales de chimie et de physique
Annales de chimie et de physique
Annales de chimie et de physique is a scientific journal that was founded in Paris, France, in 1789 under the title Annales de chimie. One of the early editors was the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier. In 1815, it became the Annales de chimie et de physique, and was published under that name for...
abstracts of chemical work done out of France. The publication of his great Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée, in which he was assisted by many other French chemists, was begun in 1869 and finished in 1878; two supplementary volumes were issued 1880–1886, and in 1892 the publication of a second supplement was begun. Among his books are Chimie médicale (1864), Leçons élémentaires de chimie moderne (1867), Théorie des atomes dans la conception générale du monde (1874), La Théorie atomique (1878), Progrés de l'industrie des matières colorantes artificielles (1876) and Traité de chimie biologique (1880–1885). His Histoire des doctrines chimiques, the introductory discourse to his Dictionnaire (also published separately in 1869), opens with the phrase, La chimie est une science française. Although it raised a storm of protest in Germany, the sentence is less nationalistic than it appears; he intended to refer only to the birth of chemistry under the great Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, rather than asserting exclusive French national ownership of the science.
External links
- Charles-Adolphe Wurtz's report on the Karlsruhe Congress (1860)
- The Atomic Theory, by A. Wurtz (1881) New York: Appleton and Company (scanned copy)
- Elements of Modern Chemistry, by A. Wurtz (1899) Philadelphia: Lippincott and Company (scanned copy of the third American edition; translated by W. H. Greene)