William Henry Perkin – Reading Test<\/strong><\/h2>\nWilliam Henry Perkin was born on March 12,1838, in London, England.<\/p>\n
As a boy, Perkin\u2019s curiosity prompted early interests in the arts, sciences,\u00a0photography, and engineering. But it was\u00a0a chance stumbling upon a run-down,\u00a0yet functional, laboratory in his late\u00a0grandfather\u2019s home that solidified the\u00a0young man\u2019s enthusiasm for chemistry.<\/p>\n
As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became immersed in the study of\u00a0chemistry.\u00a0His talent and devotion to the\u00a0subject were perceived by his teacher,\u00a0Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to\u00a0attend a series of lectures given by the\u00a0eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the\u00a0Royal Institution<\/span>. Those speeches fired\u00a0the young chemist\u2019s enthusiasm further,\u00a0and he later went on to attend the Royal\u00a0College of Chemistry, which he succeeded\u00a0in entering in 1853, at the age of 15.<\/p>\nAt the time of Perkin\u2019s enrolment, the Royal College of Chemistry was headed\u00a0by the noted German chemist August\u00a0Wilhelm Hofmann. Perkin\u2019s scientific\u00a0gifts soon caught Hofmann\u2019s attention\u00a0and, within two years,\u00a0he became\u00a0Hofmann\u2019s youngest assistant<\/span>.\u00a0Not long\u00a0after that, Perkin made the scientific\u00a0breakthrough that would bring him both\u00a0fame and fortune<\/span>.<\/p>\nAt the time, quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria. The\u00a0drug is derived from the bark of the\u00a0cinchona tree, native to South America,\u00a0and by 1856 demand for the drug was\u00a0surpassing the available supply. Thus,\u00a0when Hofmann made some passing\u00a0comments about the desirability of a\u00a0synthetic substitute for quinine, it was\u00a0unsurprising that his star pupil was\u00a0moved to take up the challenge.<\/p>\n
During his vacation in 1856, Perkin spent his time in the laboratory on the\u00a0top floor of his family\u2019s house.\u00a0He was\u00a0attempting to manufacture quinine\u00a0from aniline, an inexpensive and readily\u00a0available coal tar waste product<\/span>. Despite\u00a0his best efforts, however, he did not end\u00a0up with quinine. Instead, he produced a\u00a0mysterious dark sludge. Luckily, Perkin\u2019s\u00a0scientific training and nature prompted\u00a0him to investigate the substance further.\u00a0Incorporating potassium dichromate and\u00a0alcohol into the aniline at various stages\u00a0of the experimental process, he finally\u00a0produced a deep purple solution. And,\u00a0proving the truth of the famous scientist\u00a0Louis Pasteur\u2019s words \u2018chance favours\u00a0only the prepared mind\u2019, Perkin saw the\u00a0potential of his unexpected find.<\/p>\nHistorically, textile dyes were made from such natural sources as plants\u00a0and animal excretions. Some of these,\u00a0such as the glandular mucus of snails,\u00a0were difficult to obtain and outrageously\u00a0expensive. Indeed, the purple colour\u00a0extracted from a snail was once so costly\u00a0that in society at the time only the\u00a0rich<\/span>\u00a0could afford it. Further, natural dyes\u00a0tended to be muddy in hue and fade\u00a0quickly. It was against this backdrop that\u00a0Perkin\u2019s discovery was made.<\/p>\nPerkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could be used to colour\u00a0fabric, thus making it the world\u2019s first\u00a0synthetic dye. Realising the importance\u00a0of this breakthrough, he lost no time\u00a0in patenting it. But perhaps the most\u00a0fascinating of all Perkin\u2019s reactions to his\u00a0find was his nearly instant recognition\u00a0that the new dye had\u00a0commercial\u00a0possibilities<\/span>.<\/p>\nPerkin originally named his dye Tyrian Purple, but it later became commonly\u00a0known as\u00a0mauve<\/span>\u00a0(from the French for\u00a0the plant used to make the colour violet).\u00a0He asked advice of Scottish dye works\u00a0owner Robert Pullar, who assured him\u00a0that manufacturing the dye would be\u00a0well worth it if the colour remained\u00a0fast (i.e. would not fade) and the cost\u00a0was relatively low. So, over the fierce\u00a0objections of his mentor Hofmann, he\u00a0left college to give birth to the modern\u00a0chemical industry.<\/p>\nWith the help of his father and brother, Perkin set up a factory not far from\u00a0London. Utilising the cheap and plentiful\u00a0coal tar that was an almost unlimited\u00a0by product of London\u2019s gas street lighting,\u00a0the dye works began producing the\u00a0world\u2019s first synthetically dyed material\u00a0in 1857. The company received a\u00a0commercial boost from the Empress\u00a0Eugenie of\u00a0France<\/span>, when she decided\u00a0the new colour flattered her. Very soon,\u00a0mauve was the necessary shade for all\u00a0the fashionable ladies in that country.<\/p>\nNot to be outdone, England\u2019s Queen Victoria also appeared in public wearing\u00a0a mauve gown, thus making it all the\u00a0rage in England as well. The dye was\u00a0bold and fast, and the public clamoured\u00a0for more. Perkin went back to the\u00a0drawing board.<\/p>\n
Although Perkin\u2019s fame was achieved and fortune assured by his first\u00a0discovery, the chemist continued\u00a0his research. Among other dyes he\u00a0developed and introduced were aniline\u00a0red (1859) and aniline black (1863) and,\u00a0in the late 1860s, Perkin\u2019s green. It is\u00a0important to note that Perkin\u2019s synthetic\u00a0dye discoveries had outcomes far beyond\u00a0the merely decorative. The dyes also\u00a0became vital to medical research in\u00a0many ways. For instance, they were used\u00a0to stain previously invisible microbes and\u00a0bacteria, allowing researchers to identify\u00a0such bacilli as tuberculosis, cholera,\u00a0and anthrax. Artificial dyes continue to\u00a0play a crucial role today. And, in what\u00a0would have been particularly pleasing to\u00a0Perkin, their current use is in the search\u00a0for a vaccine against\u00a0malaria<\/span>.<\/p>\n