Prof. A. W. von Hofmann - key to development of Chemistry in QCG
Item
Format
JPEG
Title
Prof. A. W. von Hofmann - key to development of Chemistry in QCG
Identifier
VHS0001
Depiction
Five men wearing top hats,
Description
This 19th century photograph, reproduced from glass plates in the Chemistry Department, shows Prof. A. W. von Hofmann (extreme right) from Giessen University (Germany) and later the Royal College of Chemistry in London, with four other key Chemistry figures linked to Liebig's pioneering School of Practical Chemistry at Giessen. Hofmann, according to Prof. R.N. Butler, for over seventy years had 'an enormous influence on the development of Chemistry in Great Britain and Ireland generally, and Galway in particular', influencing Chemistry in Galway directly from 1849 to 1918 through the Professors in Galway who had worked under or with him, viz. Edmund Ronalds (1849-56), Thomas H. Rowney (1856-89), Augustus E. Dixon (1889-91) and Alfred Senier (1891-1918), and indirectly Edward Divers (Assistant in QCG, 1854-66 and later the first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo). The survival in the Department of Chemistry ever since of this glass-plate photograph of those early figures associated with Liebig's School is in itself evidence of the continued memory in Galway of the historic link between Giessen and the development of Chemistry in Galway.
People
(Left to right) Carl Remegius Fresenius (1818-97), Heinrich Will (1812-90), John Lloyd Bullock (1842-1905), John Gardner (1804-80) and August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-92)
References
R.N. Butler, 'Chemistry' in 'From Queen's College to National University: essays on the academic history of QCG/UCG/NUI Galway' , ed. Tadhg Foley, 1999, pp. 218-41.
Wikipedia, under each name, for biographical information on the five men in the image (accessed on 18/03/2024).
Wikipedia, under each name, for biographical information on the five men in the image (accessed on 18/03/2024).
Contributor
Bibliographic Citation
J. Butler (de Buitléir), S. Mac Mathúna, 'Prof. A.W. von Hofmann - key to development of Chemistry in QCG', Visual History Retired Staff Collection, University of Galway Digital Collections, Asset Id 14632, Archival Record Id VHRS
Text in image
(Top) Giessen
(Bottom) Fresenius, Will, Bullock, Gardner, Hofmann
(Bottom) Fresenius, Will, Bullock, Gardner, Hofmann
Spatial Coverage
Temporal Coverage
Period
19th century
Category
b&w
group
off-campus
indoors
group
off-campus
indoors
Subject
Language
English
Publisher
University of Galway Library
Rights Holder
The Library, University of Galway
Provenance
Image, which Professor R.N. Butler (de Buitléir) had reproduced from the glass plate original in the Department of Chemistry, provided by Jean Butler (de Buitléir) to Séamus Mac Mathúna for the Visual History Retired Staff Collection in 2024 and scanned by him