Product Description

In 1856 eighteen-year-old English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce color. In a "witty, erudite, and entertaining" (Esquire) style, Simon Garfield explains how the experimental mishap that produced an odd shade of purple revolutionized fashion, as well as industrial applications of chemistry research. Occasionally honored in certain colleges and chemistry clubs, Perkin until now has been a forgotten man. 8 pages of color illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #279873 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-28
• Released on: 2007-09-28
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .51 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 242 pages

From Amazon.com
In 1856, while trying to synthesize artificial quinine, 18-year-old chemistry student William Perkin instead produced a murky residue. Fifty years later, he described the event: he "was about to throw a certain residue away when I thought it might be interesting. The solution of it resulted in a strangely beautiful color." Perkin had stumbled across the world's first aniline dye, a color that became known as mauve.

"So what?" you might say. "A teenager invented a new color." As Simon Garfield admirably points out in Mauve, the color really did change the world. Before Perkin's discovery all the dyes and paints were colored by roots, leaves, insects, or, in the case of purple, mollusks. As a result, colors were inconsistent and unpredictably strong, often fading or washing out. Perkin found a dye that would always produce a uniform shade--and he pointed the way to other synthetic colors, thus revolutionizing the world of both dyemaking and fashion. Mauve became all the rage. Queen Victoria wore it to her daughter's wedding in 1858, and the highly influential Empress Eugénie decided the color matched her eyes. Soon, the streets of London erupted in what one wag called the "mauve measles."

Mauve had a much wider impact as well. By finding a commercial use for his discovery--much to the dismay of his teacher, the great August Hofmann, who believed there needed to be a separation between "pure" and "applied" science--Perkin inspired others to follow in his footsteps: "Ten years after Perkin's discovery of mauve, organic chemistry was perceived as being exciting, profitable, and of great practical use." The influx of bright young men all hoping to earn their fortunes through industrial applications of chemistry later brought significant advances in the fields of medicine, perfume, photography, and even explosives. Through it all, Garfield tells his story in clever, witty prose, turning this odd little tale into a very entertaining read. --Sunny Delaney

From Library Journal
Since his discovery of the first synthetic dye in 1856, interest in William Perkin has undergone a resurgence approximately every 50 years. Garfield's (The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS) biography follows in the footsteps of A Jubilee Proceedings (1906) and a centenary supplement to the organic chemistry journal Tetrahedron (1956). It focuses on Perkin as a pioneer, taking research from the burgeoning field of academic chemistry and applying it to industry. The creation of a popular dye from coal-tar (a plentiful industrial waste) when the field of dyeing was beholden to natural dyes, such as indigo and madder, made Perkin very rich and fleetingly famous. The book also chronicles the influence of this discovery throughout the industry and into other fields. That the use of stains and dyes eventually transformed biochemistry and medicine is ironic, given that Perkin was originally seeking a cure for malaria when he stumbled onto the mauve dye. Recommended for science collections in academic and large public libraries. Wade M. Lee, Univ. of Toledo Lib.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
British writer Garfield presents the latest chapter in a burgeoning literature of material science, merrily telling the serendipitous story of mauve, the first mass-produced artificial color, which was the creation of an intuitive and indefatigable 18-year-old London chemist. A bit of a prodigy, William Perkins set up a home laboratory to augment his college studies in 1856 and decided to try his hand at synthesizing quinine, which was in great demand as malaria raged across the British empire. Working with coal tar, an abundant waste product, he failed in his mission but was quite taken with the "strangely beautiful color" of the powder he produced. Perkins ended up inventing the first aniline dye, then cheekily developed a process for its commercial manufacture. Worn by Queen Victoria, mauve soon became all the rage (Punch lampooned the fad as "Mauve Measles"), and Perkins became a wealthy man. Ultimately Perkins' discovery earned him a knighthood and led to important advances in medicine, photography, and many other fields. His nearly forgotten career is chronicled by Garfield with palpable pleasure. Donna Seaman
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