Darmstadt, Birthplace of Chloroform Pioneer Liebig

Abstract

A German co-discoverer of chloroform, Justus Liebig was born in 1803 in a modest home (left) in the Hessian city of Darmstadt, a place noted for its sandy soil. Perhaps that soil helps explain young Liebig’s future interests in agricultural chemistry and in formalizing organic chemistry. On the centennial of his birth, Liebig was depicted as “the genius at school” in “Liebig’s Extract of Meat” advertising (right). Fortunately, Liebig’s schoolboy aspirations of becoming “a chemist” were never derailed by his schoolmaster, who branded Justus as “hopelessly useless.” Liebig’s birthplace would later be immortalized by scientists there, who, after discovering the 110th chemical element, named it … “Darmstadtium.” (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)