Carsten Reinhardt

Anthony S. Travis

Heinrich Caro (1834-1910) was the inventor of new chemical processes that in the two decades commencing in 1869 enabled BASF of Ludwigshafen, Germany, to take first place among manufacturers of synthetic dyestuffs. The cornerstones of Caro's success were his early training as calico (cotton) printer in Germany, and his employment at a chemical firm in Manchester, England. Caro was a creative research chemist, a highly knowledgeable patent specialist and expert witness, and a brilliant manager of science-based chemical technology. This first full-length scientific biography of Heinrich Caro delineates his role in the emergence of the industrial research laboratory, the forging of links between academic and industrial chemistry, and the development of modern patent law. Major chemical topics include the rise of classical organic chemistry, collaboration with Adolf Baeyer, artificial alizarin and indigo, aniline dyes, and other coal-tar products, particularly intermediates.

Heinrich Caro and the Creation of Modern Chemical Industry

Harm G. Schröter

Ernst Homburg

Peter J.T. Morris

The editors wish to thank the European Science Foundation for its support of the programme on the Evolution of Chemistry in Europe, 1789-1939, as well as for sponsoring the publication of this volume. Through the subdivision of this initiative that deals specifically with chemical industry it has been possible for historians of science, technology, business and economics to share often widely differing viewpoints and develop consensus across disciplinary and cultural boundaries. The contents of this volume are based on the third of three workshops that have considered the emergence of the modern European chemical industry prior to 1939, the first held in Liege (1994), the second in Maastricht (1995), and the third in Strasbourg (1996). All contributors and participants are thanked for their participation in often lively and informative debates. The generous hospitality of the European Science Foundation and its staff in Strasbourg is gratefully acknowledged. Introduction Emerging chemical knowledge and the development of chemical industry, and particularly the interaction between them, offer rich fields of study for the historian. This is reflected in the contents of the three workshops dealing with the emergence of chemical industry held under the aegis of the European Science Foundation's Evolution of Chemistry in Europe, 1789-1939, programme. The first workshop focused mainly on science for industry, 1789- 1850, and the second on the two-way traffic between science and industry, 1850-1914. The third workshop, dealing with the period 1900-1939, covers similar issues, but within different, and wider, contexts.

New Technologies, Political Frameworks, Markets and Companies

Determinants in the Evolution of the European Chemical Industry, 1900–1939

This book explores the rise of the modern U.S. organic chemicals industry through the Bround Book, New Jersey, facility of the American Cyanamid Company. The site was chosen in 1915 by the Calco Chemical Company for the manufacture of coal-tar intermediates and synthetic dyestuffs previously imported from Europe. After Calco was acquired by American Cyanamid in 1929, the facility diversified into sulfa drugs based on dye intermediates, and novel polymers for the first colored molded plastic goods and ubiquitous melamine laminates. Bound Brook was the international leader in instrumental analysis and color matching of dyes, and contributed to the first phase of the instrumental revolution. It introduced continuous, automated process equipment, with the aim of replacing certain batch processes, though the outcomes were not always as intended. The widespread decline in chemical invention and innovation after 1960 had a considerable impact on the affairs of what had become the Organic Chemicals Division of American Cyanamid. Environmental issues concerning the adjacent Raritan River, a source of water and a sink for waste, had also come to the fore. Pressures from state agencies stimulated innovations in the treatment of liquid waste, including in 1957 the largest biological waste-treatment system in New Jersey, and in 1977 and advanced continuous activated-carbon wastewater treatment plant. The inclusion of extensive transcripts from interviews and documents connected with the Bound Brook facility provides historians of science, technology and the environment with valuable resource material. -- P. 4 of cover.

The Calco Chemical Company, American Cyanamid and the Raritan River

Dyes Made in America, 1915-1980

This monograph provides an account of how the synthetic nitrogen industry became the forerunner of the 20th-century chemical industry in Europe, the United States and Asia. Based on an earlier SpringerBrief by the same author, which focused on the period of World War I, it expands considerably on the international aspects of the development of the synthetic nitrogen industry in the decade and a half following the war, including the new technologies that rivalled the Haber-Bosch ammonia process. Travis describes the tremendous global impact of fixed nitrogen (as calcium cyanamide and ammonia), including the perceived strategic need for nitrogen (mainly for munitions), and, increasingly, its role in increasing crop yields, including in Italy under Mussolini, and in the Soviet Union under Stalin. The author also reviews the situation in Imperial Japan, including the earliest adoption of the Italian Casale ammonia process, from 1923, and the role of fixed nitrogen in the industrialization of colonial Korea from the late 1920s. Chemists, historians of science and technology, and those interested in world fertilizer production and the development of chemical industry during the first four decades of the twentieth century will find this book of considerable value.

The Growth of an International Industry (1900–1940)

Nitrogen Capture

Europe is the cradle of the modem international chemical industry. From the middle of the nineteenth century until the outbreak of World War I, the European chemical industry influenced not only the production and control of science and technology, but also made significant contributions towards economic development, as well as bringing about profound changes in working and living enviromnents. It is a highly complex heritage, both rich and threatening, that calls for close scrutinity. Fortunately, a unique opportunity to explore the historical development of the European chemical industry from a variety of novel standpoints, was made possible during 1993 as part of the European Science Foundation (ESF) programme called 'The Evolution of Chemistry in Europe, 1789-1939.' This process of exploration has taken place through three workshops, each dealing with different time periods. The workshop concerned with the period 1850-1914, which corresponds roughly to the so-called Second Industrial Revolution, was held in Maastricht, The Netherlands, on 23-25 March 1995. This volume is the outcome of that workshop. The other workshops dealing with European chemical industry were held in Liege in 1994, covering the First Industrial Revolution period, 1789-1850, and Strasbourg in 1996, covering the period between the two World Wars.

Anthony S. Travis

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