2011: International Year of Chemistry
Professor Hermann Staudinger (1881 to 1965) conducting an experiment, circa 1916 (Portr_13425)
The ETH-Bibliothek possesses both printed and electronic documents on the subject of chemistry as well as extensive holdings on the history of chemistry at ETH Zurich. These are available to the general public and in some cases can be accessed directly online.
To celebrate the International Year of Chemistry 2011, the ETH-Bibliothek has produced an overview of its holdings and resources on this subject:
History of Chemistry at ETH Zurich
The former Department IV, which provided a very broad technical education, developed into the clearly differentiated Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences D-CHAB. This process was described in the Institutional History of ETH Zurich. The ETH-Bibliothek is also able to provide source material for research into the history of chemistry at ETH Zurich and elsewhere:
- Schulratsprotokolle online (external link): minutes of the executive body of ETH Zurich 1855 to 1968
- Personal papers of leading personalities in the field of chemistry teaching and research (e. g. the winner of the Nobel prize for Chemistry Richard Willstätter (external link), Leopold Ruzicka (external link) and Vladimir Prelog (external link)) together with other material about specific institutes and individuals
- Extensive collection of images on individuals, education and research, and the buildings
Holdings, resources
Short portraits of researchers in various fields of chemistry (in German):
- Eugen Bamberger (1857–1932)
- Emil Bosshard (1860–1937)
- Marie Curie (1867–1934)
- Emil Hardegger (1913–1978)
- Richard Lorenz (1863–1929)
- Georg Lunge (1839–1923)
- Hans Pallmann (1903–1965)
- Vladimir Prelog (1906–1998)
- Tadeus Reichstein (1897–1996)
- Leopold Ruzicka (1887–1976)
- Otto Stern (1888–1969)
- Frederic Pearson Treadwell (1857–1918)
- William Dupré Treadwell (1885–1959)
- Alfred Werner (1866–1919)
- Richard Willstätter (1872–1942)
ETHeritage (external link) weblog: presentation of highlights from the Special Collections
- Figures from the 16th and 17th centuries include alchemists and iatrochemists such as Andreas Libavius, Alchemia (external link), 1597 and Paracelsus, Spittal Buoch (external link), 1566
- From the 18th century, there are works by researchers into modern combustion theory such as Joseph Priestley, Experiments and observations on different kinds of air (external link), 1775 to 1777 and German scholars like Karl Gottfried Hagen, Grundriss der Experimentalchemie (external link), 1790
- Titles from the 19th century include works by Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and the first contributions from ETH Zurich, for example by Alexander Bolley.
In cooperation with the Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung and with the financial support of the Dr. Donald C. Cooper Fund, the ETH-Bibliothek has digitized works on alchemy from the former personal library of C.G. Jung in Küsnacht.The titles are accessible online via e.rara.ch (external link).
- The Knowledge Portal can be used for general access to specialist literature.
- Resources on the subject of chemistry: compilation of journals, new acquisitions, databases, reference works and other resources
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Selection of books on landmarks in chemistry and their importance for society, together with instructions for simple chemical experiments and a photograph-based introduction to the periodic table and chemical elements:
Important chemical molecules and acquisitions Instructions for simple chemical experiments Introduction to the chemical elements and their meanings Other books on these subjects can be researched on the Knowledge Portal.