Professor Catherine Jackson
History of Science Department
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thursday, March 12, 2015
11:00am
Chemistry Room #1315
The “Methodical Production of Genius”:
Collective Practice and Chemical Theory in
Emil Fischer’s Laboratory
Emil Fischer’s laboratory is famous as an outstandingly successful site of group research.
This was where Fischer and the chemists in his group mastered Nature, stabilizing a
new and productive molecular world in three dimensions through their synthetic work
on sugars and proteins.
This paper uses a combination of archival and published material to reconstruct
collective research in Emil Fischer’s laboratory around 1900. How did Fischer’s students
and assistants contribute to the immense output of the laboratory? And what was
Fischer’s unique contribution as research leader? What was it that Fischer knew and
could do, that transformed his laboratory into a reliable mechanism for the progress of
science?
Emil Fischer in his Private Laboratory, Berlin University.
Early 20th Century. Archive of the Max Planck Society, Berlin.