Laboratory picture

German chemist (&#;)

For his son sometimes known as Emil Jr., see Friedrich Gustav Carl Emil Erlenmeyer.

Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer (28 June – 22 January ), known simply as Emil Erlenmeyer, was a German chemist known for contributing to the early development of the theory of chemical structure and formulating the Erlenmeyer rule.

He also designed the Erlenmeyer flask, a specialized apparatus ubiquitous in chemistry laboratories, which is named after him.^[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Erlenmeyer was born in Wehen, Duchy of Nassau (today Taunusstein, Hesse, near Wiesbaden), in , the son of a Protestant minister.^[2] He enrolled in the University of Giessen to study medicine, but after attending lectures of Justus von Liebig changed to chemistry.

In the summer of he went to Heidelberg for one year, and studied physics, botany and mineralogy, returning to Giessen in After serving as assistant to H. Will and then to Carl