Garfield, Simon. Mauve; how one man invented a color that changed the world.Norton 224p. illus. bibliog. index. c2000. 0-393-02005-3. $13.95. SA Sir William Perkin discovered the first aniline dye Noun 1. aniline dye - any of many dyes made from aniline dye, dyestuff - a usually soluble substance for staining or coloring e.g. fabrics or hair in 1856, the first famous artificial color to be derived from the distillation of coal tar coal tar, product of the destructive distillation of bituminous coal. Coal tar can be distilled into many fractions to yield a number of useful organic products, including benzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene, anthracene, and phenanthrene. . Within 50 years there were 2,000 artificial colors, used to color wool, silk, cotton, linen, hair, leather, paper, bones, ivory, feathers, straw, furniture and frankfurters. Coal-tar derivatives have also been used to cure tuberculosis, cholera, and relieve the pain of cancer. Perkin's discovery also led to others, such as saccharin saccharin (săk`ərĭn), C7H5NSO3, white, crystalline, aromatic compound. It was discovered accidentally by I. Remsen and C. Fahlberg in 1879. Pure saccharin tastes several hundred times as sweet as sugar. , artificial perfume, acids used to preserve canned food canned food food sterilized by heat in a closed, durable container such as tin and aluminum cans, flexible aluminum foil and thermoplastic containers including squeeze tubes. Technically, the processes used are highly efficient and used universally. , improved photographic emulsions, and bigger nitroglycerine ni·tro·glyc·er·in also ni·tro·glyc·er·ine n. A thick, pale yellow liquid, C3H5N3O9, that is explosive on concussion or exposure to sudden heat. explosives. Perkin was, before his death in 1907, a celebrity. Simon Garfield, who gives the reader more than just the life of one English chemist, engagingly presents the story of his modest beginnings and his fortuitous discovery. His is a work of the cultural history of an era. Perkin sold his business in 1873, and England's hold on the dye industry moved to Germany, where many of his former trainees went. True, the Germans had discovered in 1870 that the arsenic used in the process was poisoning people who wore dyed material and ate dyed foods. But by then Perkin was a millionaire and out of the business. In 1938, 100 years after his birth, Perkin was hailed for his work. He has provided the launching pad for rayon, synthetic rubber, Bakelite, Plexiglas, vinyl, and Teflon. German chemists at IG Farben during the Holocaust produced Zyklon B, the poisonous gas used with deadly effect at Birkenau. Perkin has given his name to the Perkin Medal, presented to chemists to this day. And his legacy still lives on. In 1944 an American synthesizer synthesizer Machine that electronically generates and modifies sounds, frequently with the use of a digital computer, for use in the composition of electronic music and in live performance. finally discovered how to make quinine quinine (kwī`nīn', kwĭnēn`), white crystalline alkaloid with a bitter taste. Before the development of more effective synthetic drugs such as quinacrine, chloroquine, and primaquine, quinine was the specific agent in the treatment of , the most effective treatment for malaria. Go to any home improvement or department store today and you can find Perkin's original discovery--mauve. Janet Julian, former English Teacher, Grafton H.S., Grafton, MA |
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