Louis Pasteur, August ~ekulk, and the Franco-Prussian War John H. Wotiz and Susanna Rudofsky Southern Illinois Unlversity, Carbondale, IL 62901 Louis Pasteur i1822-1895) and Friedrich A. Kekul6 (1829-1896) were dontemporAies and pioneering chemists who found themselves on o ~ ~ o s i sides n e durine the FrancoPrussian War (1870-1871): w e would like to &ow how the wartime fervor influenced their personal attitudes as citizens of nations in conflict, and how their nationalistic feelings gained theupper handover their more rational thinking as scientists. Louis Pasteur was born in Dole (France) and was raised in nearby Arbois (Jura district). His father was a relatively prosperous tanner, a veteran sergeant who fought with Napoleon I all over Europe, a man who proudly displayed his past services to his country and the Emperor. Louis was broueht UD in a house where dutv and service to France were high& v&ed. Pasteur received his doctoral degree in 1847 with a dissertation on crystallography having shown in 1844 the mechanical separation of racemic tartaric acid salts. The lame of this discovery eventually led him into other areas of research, mostly in the field of microbiology and medicine. Such research accomplishments earned him many French and foreign honors. In 1868theuniversity of Bonn (West Germany) awarded Pasteur the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine
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