The Chemist's War, IUPAC, and SCI - The Story

Synopsis

Nineteenth-century chemistry has often been described as a smooth sequence of discoveries that gradually established modern chemistry, with landmark events such as Dalton's atomic theory, Avogadro's law, Mendeleev's periodic system, and so on.

In reality the mid-nineteenth century saw considerable debate and disagreement on all aspect of chemical structures, involving many well know scientists of that period. There were many interesting events, particularly in Europe, the establishment of national chemical societies and at the end of the nineteenth century is was clear that agreement on standardization was vital.

Significant progress was being made, then World War One effectively brought these plans to a halt. The Chemist’s War, saw the leading chemical manufacturing country, Germany,  ostracized. The story of some well known scientists, and events from this period, and the events and personalities in the Chemists War will be presented. Finally plans for the development of standards were agreed in 1919 with the formation of IUPAC, which was ultimately due to the initiative of key individuals from SCI in London.

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