Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, the German chemist who discovered caffeine – 08/02/2019

On the occasion of the 225th anniversary of his birth, Google has dedicated a gribou this Thursday Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, the German chemist who discovered caffeine.

Runge was born outside Hamburg on February 8, 1795. Son of a Lutheran pastor, he showed interest in chemistry from an early age and began conducting experiments at l & # 39; teens.

Clarin Bulletins

What happened today? We tell you the most important news of the day and what will happen tomorrow when you get up

Monday to Friday afternoon.

During one of these trials, accidentally spilled a drop of belladonna extract into his eye, noting its dilatant effects of the pupil.

Ten years later, while studying the famous chemist and inventor Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner at the University of Jena, Runge's mission was to reproduce the effects of the belladonna as part of a demonstration for a friend of Döbereiner: the poet and scientist Johann Wolfgang. von Goethe.

Impressed by the 25-year-old chemist, Goethe handed Runge a bag of rare coffee beans and suggested that he badyze his chemical composition. A little after, Runge has isolated the active ingredient that is now called caffeine.

After obtaining his doctorate from the University of Berlin, Runge continued to teach at the University of Breslau until 1831, when he left the academy to fill a position in a company. of chemicals.

During this time, he invented the first coal tar dye and a related process for dyeing clothes.

Look also

His contributions to the world also include one of the first scientists to isolate quinine (a drug used to treat malaria), considered the origin of paper chromatography (an early technique for the separation of chemicals) and even to to develop an extraction method. sugar beet juice.

Runge died on March 25, 1867, but will always be remembered for his contributions to the field of chemistry.