Google Celebrates German Chemist Friedlieb Runge’s 225th Birthday

“Here’s to Runge, without whom the pain of forgoing morning coffee might never have had a scientific explanation.”

Born to a Lutheran pastor family in Hamburg, Germany, in 1795, Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge expressed interest in chemistry from an early age.

(Photo Courtesy: Google)

Google on Friday, 8 February, raised a toast in honour of German analytical chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, who made some eye-opening discoveries which are an integral part of our lives, even 200 years later.

Hoping to create a buzz around Runge, the search engine dedicated an animated doodle on his 225th birthday.

Born to a Lutheran pastor family on this day, in 1795, in Hamburg, Germany, Runge expressed interest in chemistry from an early age and began conducting experiments as a teenager.

He identified the pupil-dilating effects of belladonna when he accidentally splashed a drop of the toxic perennial, also known as ‘deadly nightshade’, into his eye.

However, it is not pupil dilation, rather a stimulating discovery by Runge in 1819, that has made him famous.

After Runge demonstrated his belladonna discovery to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, impressed by the 25-year-old chemist, Goethe had handed Runge a bag of rare coffee beans and suggested he analyse their chemical makeup. Shortly thereafter, Runge isolated the active ingredient we know today as caffeine.

“Here’s to Runge, without whom the pain of forgoing one’s morning cup of coffee might never have had a scientific explanation,” the Google blogpost said.

After earning his doctorate from the University of Berlin, Runge went on to teach at the University of Breslau until 1831, when he left academia to take a position at a chemical company.

During this time, he invented the first coal tar dye and a related process for dyeing clothes.

Runge’s contributions to the world also include being one of the first scientists to isolate quinine (a drug used to treat malaria).

He is also known for devising a method for extracting sugar from beet juice. Despite his contributions to chemistry, Runge died in poverty in 1867 at the age of 73.

Netizens Pay Tribute to Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge For a ‘Brewtiful Day’

(With inputs from IANS)