Hofmann's chemistry factory

Liebig company trading card advert showing Hofmann giving a lecture

Source: Image courtesy of the Chemical Heritage Foundation

How two German chemists shaped chemistry education and research in Britain

In the mid-19th century, two Germans drastically accelerated Britain’s development in chemical science and industry. Justus von Liebig (1803–1873) and August Wilhelm Hofmann (1818–1892) transformed chemical education and agriculture in England and helped initiate the country’s organic chemistry boom.