page_title: List of German inventions and discoveries
section_title: Chemistry
hierarchical_section_title: List of German inventions and discoveries / Chemistry
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Besichtigung der GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Deutschland. English: Visit of the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, Darmstadt, Germany.
context_page_description: German inventions and discoveries are ideas, objects, processes or techniques invented, innovated or discovered, partially or entirely, in Germany or abroad by a person from Germany. Often, things discovered for the first time are also called inventions and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two.
  Germany has been the home of many famous inventors, discoverers and engineers, including Carl von Linde, who developed the modern refrigerator; Paul Nipkow, who laid the foundation of the television with his Nipkow disk; Hans Geiger, the creator of the Geiger counter; and Konrad Zuse, who built the first fully automatic digital computer and the first commercial digital computer. Such German inventors, engineers and industrialists as Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Otto Lilienthal, Gottlieb Daimler, Rudolf Diesel, Hugo Junkers and Karl Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology. Aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun developed the first space rocket at Peenemünde and later on was a prominent member of NASA and developed the Saturn V Moon rocket.
context_section_description: 1625: Glauber's salt by German-born Johann Rudolf Glauber
  1669: Discovery of phosphorus by Hennig Brand in Hamburg
  1706: Prussian blue by Heinrich Diesbach in Berlin
  1724: Temperature scale Fahrenheit by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
  1746: Basic theory of isolating zinc by Andreas Marggraf
  c. 1770 – c. 1785: Identification of molybdenum, tungsten, barium and chlorine by Carl Wilhelm Scheele
  1773 or earlier: discovery of oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first) by Carl Wilhelm Scheele
  1789: Discovery of the elements uranium and zirconium by Martin Heinrich Klaproth
  1799: Production of sugar from sugar beets, the beginning of the modern sugar industry, by Franz Karl Achard, after foundations were laid by Andreas Marggraf
  19th century: Eupione by Carl Reichenbach
  1817: Discovery of cadmium by Karl Samuel Leberecht Hermann and Friedrich Stromeyer
  1820s: Oechsle scale by Ferdinand Oechsle
  1823: Döbereiner's lamp, often hailed as the first lighter, by Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner
  1828: Discovery of creosote by Carl Reichenbach
  1828, 1893: Isolation (1828) of nicotine by Wilhelm Heinrich Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann. The structure (1893) of nicotine was later discovered by Adolf Pinner and Richard Wolffenstein
  1828: Synthesis of urea by Friedrich Wöhler (Wöhler synthesis)
  1830: Creation of paraffin wax by Carl Reichenbach
  1832: Discovery of pittacal by Carl Reichenbach
  1834: Melamine by Justus von Liebig
  1834: Discovery of phenol by Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge
  1836 (or 1837): Discovery of diatomaceous earth (Kieselgur in German) by Peter Kasten on the northern slopes of the Haußelberg hill, in the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany
  1838: Fuel cell by Christian Friedrich Schönbein
  1839: Discovery of ozone by Christian Friedrich Schönbein
  1839, 1930: Discovery of polystyrene by Eduard Simon, was made a commercial product by IG Farben in 1930
  c. 1840: Nitrogen-based fertiliser by Justus von Liebig, important innovations were later made by Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch (Haber process) in the 1900s
  1846: Discovery of guncotton by Christian Friedrich Schönbein
  1850s: Siemens-Martin process by Carl Wilhelm Siemens
  c. 1855: Bunsen burner by Robert Bunsen and Peter Desaga
  1855: Chromatography by Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge
  1857: Siemens cycle by Carl Wilhelm Siemens
  1859: Pinacol coupling reaction by Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig
  1860–61: Discovery of caesium and rubidium by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff
  1860: Erlenmeyer flask by Emil Erlenmeyer
  1863–64: Discovery of indium by Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymous Theodor Richter
  1863: First synthesis of trinitrotoluene (TNT) by Julius Wilbrand
  1864: First synthesis of barbiturate by Adolf von Baeyer, first marketed by Bayer under the name "Veronal" in 1903
  1865: Synthetic indigo dye by Adolf von Baeyer, first marketed by BASF in 1897
  c. 1870: Brix unit by Adolf Brix
  1872: Synthesis of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) by Eugen Baumann
  1877: Poly(methyl methacrylate) by Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig, was made a commercial product (Plexiglas) by Otto Röhm in 1933
  1882: Tollens' reagent by Bernhard Tollens
  1883: Claus process by Carl Friedrich Claus
  1884: Paal–Knorr synthesis by Carl Paal and Ludwig Knorr
  1885–1886: Discovery of germanium by Clemens Winkler
  1887: Petri dish by Julius Richard Petri
  1888: Büchner flask and Büchner funnel by Ernst Büchner
  1895: Hampson–Linde cycle by Carl von Linde
  1897: Galalith by Wilhelm Krische
  1898: Polycarbonate by Alfred Einhorn, was made an commercial product by Hermann Schnell at Bayer in 1953 in Uerdingen
  1898: Synthesis of polyethylene, the most common plastic, by Hans von Pechmann
  1898: First synthesis of purine by Emil Fischer. He had also coined the word in 1884.
  Early 20th century: Schlenk flask by Wilhelm Schlenk
  1900s: Haber process by Carl Bosch and Fritz Haber
  1902: Ostwald process by Wilhelm Ostwald
  1903: First commercially successful decaffeination process by Ludwig Roselius (later of Café HAG), after foundations were laid by Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge in 1820
  1907: Thiele tube by Johannes Thiele
  1913: Coal liquefaction (Bergius process) by Friedrich B
caption: GSI's linear particle accelerator UNILAC, where hassium was discovered
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 700D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2015:07:06 14:50:17", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "360", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9258", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11148", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "16893", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2000", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "2000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:07:06 14:50:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:07:06 14:50:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "51/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTime": "62", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "62", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "62", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9030", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "864000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1152000/199", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "053031013755", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "00001e9eff"}