CHEMICAL PORTRAITS ON MEDALS AND PLAQUES WILHELM PRANDTL University of Munich, Munich, Germany (Translated by Ralph E. Oesper, ~ n i v e r s i bof Cincinnati)
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RECENT paper by the writer in TAIS JOURNAL^ dealt with caricatures of chemists. The illustrations poked fun a t certain characteristics of chemists, as a profession or as individuals. However, artistic productions designed to honor meritorious chemists are far more common. These are usually the work of prominent artists and have been commissioned by grateful students and friends to commemorate special occasions. Particularly attractive among such historical items are medals and plaques, i. e., metal discs or tablets, which transmit to later generations plastic likenesses of the honored chemists and memorialize their accomplishments by a few pregnant words or an artistic device. Held in the hand, they provide not only information but also the aesthetic pleasure of watching the interplay of light and shadow when the specimen is tilted in various directions. This is an innate advantage of the plastic form over the flat likeness. A great many of these small works of art have been issued. The few discussed here were chosen because of the importance of the subject and the artistic merit of the execution. Andreas Sigismund Margraff (1709-82) was the first to point out the sugar content of the beet and so laid the foundation of the beet sugar industry. He was the last distinguished German chemist of the phlogiston period. The only known likeness of him is preserved in the medal produced about 1780 by Abraham Ahramson, the Berlin medalist. All the likenesses of Margraff given in books have been drawn after this medal (Figure 1). The flame and the inscription "Ignibus Abdita Rerum Scrutatur" (He searches out hidden
' PRAYDTL, W., J. Chem. Edue., 25, 323 (1948).
things by fires) on the reverse are reminders of the method and theory of the phlogistians. The stone, branch, and antlers symbolize the three kingdoms of nature: mineral, vegetable, and animal. Excluding Berzelius and Scheele, the greatest of the early Swedish chemists was Tobern Bergman (173584). He was professor of chemistry and pharmacy a t the University of Upsala and was the teacher of Gahn, Gadolin, and d'Elhuyar. In 1777 he published Scheele's famous "Treatise on Air and Fire." He also made valuable contributions to the development of qualitative and quantitative analysis. A silver medal (Figure 2) was issued to commemorate the centenav of his death. The artist Lea Ahlborn (neb Lundgren 1826-97) was medalist at the Stockholm mint from 1855. At the ninth meeting of the Deutsche Naturforscher und Arzte a t Hamburg in September, 1830, a medal (Figure 3) was dedicated to honor the 50th birthday (August 20, 1829) of the great J. J. Berzelius (1779-
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1848). It was the work of Wilhelm Kirchner, a student of the Berlin Medal and Coin Institute, and was designed under the supervision of G. Loos. The prime objective of Berzelius, namely, the accurate determination of atomic weights, is summed up in the reverse of the medal by a balance and the inscription "Pondera E t Numeros Investigavit" (he studied weights and numbers). Johann Bartholomaus Trommsdorff (1770-1837) proprietor of an apothecary in Erfurt, was professor of physics and chemistry at the local university from 1795. He founded a pharmaceutical institute there and trained many of the most competent apothecaries and teachers of chemistry and pharmacy. On October 1, 1834, his students commemorated the 50th anniversary of the entrance into professional life of their esteemed teacher by a medal (Figure 4). Its reverse shows Aesculapius, the god of medicine, with two disciples. One is lighting his lamp a t the torch of the god and receives a remedy from him; the other is stirring a preparation. The occupation of the distinguished recipient of the medal is thus fittingly symbolized by this group and the inscription: "Fax Divina Coquit Succos Morbisque" (The divine torch boils juices and cures diseases). Friedrich Anton Konig (born in Berlin, 1794) medalist at the Dresden mint from 1824 produced this piece. It is a fine example of his work, which was renowned for its excellency of design, drawing, and execution. Both Jean d ' h c e t (1725-1801) and his son J. P. Joseph (1777-1844) were competent chemists and tech-
Figure 5
nologists. The father is now perhaps best remembered as the discoverer of d'Arcet's metal. This alloy, which consists of 8 parts bismuth, 5 lead, and 3 tin, melts a t 79°C. The younger d'Arcet introduced into metallurgical practice the refining process (afination) in which gold and silver are separated by means of sulfuric acid. Both were Inspectors General of Assays (Wardens) a t the Paris mint, being appointed in 1791 and 1818, respectively. Raymond Gayard (17771868), the Paris medalist, who put out an extensive numismatic portrait gallery of distinguished persons, made the dlArcets the suhjert of a joint medal (Figure 5). Justus von Liebig (1803-73) earned the eternal &titude of mankind by his studies which led to the use of mineral fertilizers and hence to immensely increased harvests. As a token of their debt to the great chemist, the German agriculturists commissioned Brehmer, the well-known engraver, to execute a medal (Figure 6). It was to be awarded to meritorious farmers. The portrait relief was modeled from life. The allegorical reverse was taken from a drawing by the Munich artist Ludwig Thiersch, a close friend of Liebig. It shows Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom, and Ceres, the goddess of harvests. Liebig's friends did not consider the likeness a good one. The most recent Liebig relief is included here for contrast and also because of its rarity. It shows him in his Giessen period. Only two specimens of this 3-mark piece were struck in 1927 at the Stuttgart mint, and the coin was never put into circulation. It is reproduced here for the first time (Figure 7).
Figure 7
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Liebig's most intimate friend was Friedrich Wohler (1800-82), famed for his production of artificial urea and the isolation of metallic aluminum. Professor at Gottingen from 1836, his fame as a teacher of chemistry was world-wide. His friends and students honored him on his 80th birthday with a fine medal (Figure 8). It was designed by Edward Liirssen (1840-91), the eminent Berlin sculptor and medalist. The smooth
schaft. I t was issued in 1900, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the day-January 12, 1 8 5 G o n which Pettenkofer delivered to the Bavarian Academy of Sciences a lecture on "The constant differences in the equivalent numbers of the so-called simple radicals." This discussion was an important step in the foundation of the periodic system of the elements. The medal (Figure 9) is the work of the distinguished sculptor Adolf van Hildebrand (1847-1921). Unfortunately it is marred by a flagrant misspelling. The grateful inhabitants of Munich likewise honored the great hygienist who freed their city of cholera and typhoid. This medal (Figure 10) was produced by Hermann Hahn (born 1868), the eminent Munich sculptor. He also made the medals issued in recognition of the accomplishments of Liebig's successors in the chair of chemistry at the University of Munich, namely, Adolf von Baeyer (1835-1918) and Richard Willstatter (18721942). They were exceptionally successful teachers and investigators; both were Nobel prizemen. The Figure 9 gold Adolf Baeyer Medal (Figure l l ) , established by Carl Duisberg, has, since 1910, been awarded by the edge of this medal shows that it was cast, whereas all Verein Deutscher Chemiker to German chemists who of the others previously reproduced here were pro- have done outstanding work in organic chemistry. The Willstatter medal (Figure 12) was sponsored in duced by stamping, as revealed by their raised rims. Among the famous chemists who were active in Mu- 1925 by his students. nich at the time of and after Liebig was his student and Willstatter's close friend, Fritz Haber (1868-1934) collaborator Max van Pettenkofer (1818-1901). Al- was likewise the recipient of the Nobel prize. He is though his lasting reputation was earned in the field of especially noted for his synthesis of ammonia from its hygiene, one of his chemical triumphs was deemed elemencs. The medal reproduced here (Figure 13) worthy of a medal by the Deutsche Chemische Gesell- was modeled (1930) by Martha Friedlinder, widow of
Figure 10
Figure 12
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1907). I t commemorated the 50th anniversary of his appointment at the College de France as assistant to Balard, whom he succeeded in 1864. The inscription beneath the profile refers to his comprehensive book "Chimie organique, fondee sur la synthese" (1860). The reverse side of the plaque represents the great chemist in his laboratory, synthesizing acetylene, a feat Figure 13 he accomplished in 1863 by passing an electric arc between carbon rods placed in an atmosphere of hydroHaber's good friend, Paul Friedlander (1857-1923) the gen. His bomb calorimeter is shown in the backwell-known authority on dyes. ground. It was constmcted in 1879 t o measure the C T h e French medals and plaques have been distin- heats of combustion of organic compounds burned in guished by a special charm since the famous medalists oxygen under high pressure. Jules Clement Chaplain (1839-1909) and Oscar Roty Louis Pasteur (1822-96) was the founder of stereo(184G1917) introduced a new method of manufacture. chemistry (1848) and (from 1857 on) the discoverer of The medalist art throughout Europe reached new ar- numerous living ferments and disease-producing ortistic heights under the influence of these craftsmen. ganisms. The medal (Figure 15) was issued when the Instead of the former stamped pieces, with raised edges, great scientist died. Victor Peter (1840-1917), the hard relief, and stiff lettering, they produced rimless cast Paris sculptor and medalist, obviously was not able to medals, in which the artistic design rises from the back- devise a suitable pictorial representation of Pasteur's ground to form an organically integrated unit. immense life work. He, accordingly, had to content One of Roty's masterpieces was shown in a recent himself with the comprehensive phrase "He brings number of THISJOURNAL.% This beautiful medal was forth truth from the enveloping shadows." issued in 1886 in connection with the elaborate cereThis series of reproductions of medals will be closed by monies marking the centenary of the birth of M. E. an interesting medal (Figure 16) awarded in Austria Chevreul (1786-1889), who a t the time was still quite during the reign of Marie Theresia to outstanding vigorous. students of assaying. It appropriately depicts an In 1901, Chaplain created the beautiful plaque assay laboratory of the 18th century and carries the (Fiaure 14) dedicated to Marcelin Berthelot (1827- inscription "Probatoriae et Separatoriae Artis Studium ' LEMAY,P., A N D R. E. OESPER,J . Chem. Educ., Z5,62 (1948). praemiat" (reward for the study of the art of assaying and separating). The artist was the eminent Italian -'.;&< engraver, Guiseppe Toda.
Figure 14
Figure 16
