Sir William Henry Perkin, the man who gave color to modern life
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Today I will speak in this publication about one of the most important discoverers of history, the man who gave color to our lives, Sir William Henry Perkin, who with his discovery allowed fashion to be one of the most important trends of our time. society .
Modern society can combine all kinds of colors thanks to the discoveries of this British chemist
It is difficult to imagine a monochromatic life, or at least with little variety of colors, both in furniture, in clothing, even in hair. However, modern society can combine all kinds of colors in its furnishings thanks to the discovery of Sir William Henry Perkin, a precocious chemist who invented the anilines.
Of English origin, born in March 1838, since childhood he was attracted to laboratory work. With only fifteen years old he meets August Wilhem von Hofmann, of whom he becomes his assistant; Hofmann was a chemist obsessed with synthesizing quinine, which was used as an anti-malarial medicine through the oxidation of aniline.
It was in the absence of his teacher that Perkin decided to apply his own ideas on the matter of oxidation of anilines using potassium dichromate that, diluted in alcohol, assumed a purple volume, one of the most required and most expensive colors in the dye market.
William had his discovery reviewed in a textile factory that gave a satisfactory answer, so he decided to deepen his research with his brother Thomas and a collaborator: the color purple or mauveine, known as Perkin's mallow, had been born.
Thus, with just eighteen years, Perkin patented his invention and allowed the textile industry to advance noticeably. The product began to commercialize intensely enriching Perkin remarkably.
Encouraged by the results, he continued his research with new products such as the alizarin that was obtained from a plant with which he achieved intense red. Already a millionaire, at 36 he sells his company that produced interesting profits to confine himself in a laboratory seduced by the passion to investigate. This is what death found on July 14, 1907, having given chemistry one of the greatest discoveries of modern science.
Google pays homage to the man who 'gave life' to the colors of the world
Much more than a color
Perkin's invention started the manufacture of vibrant synthetic dyes that revolutionized the textile industry and that has since become a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.
In the social, the "malveina" supposed the fall of class barriers in the mass production of clothing, because even the purple of the royalty was already exclusive. But the changes in fashion were just the beginning of a much greater transformation.