How a Boy Created Color with Chemistry
(pub. 10.6.2020)
56 pages
C haracter: William Henry PerkinO verview:
"Many years ago, the color purple was available only to a privileged
few. Making purple was tricky. The dye was concocted from a certain
snail, and later, from plants, bugs, and rocks. Then it had to be soaked
in minerals and . . . urine! The process was very complicated and
expensive (not to mention smelly!).
Until 1856,
when a boy named William Henry Perkin invented a new way. While testing
a hypothesis about a cure for malaria, he found that his experiment
resulted in something else -- something vivid and rare for the times:
synthetic PURPLE. Perkin, a pioneer of the modern scientific method,
made numerous advances possible, including canned food and chemotherapy.
But it was his creation of purple that started it all."
T antalizing taste:
"This is how it happened.
William's father was a successful carpenter.
His brother, a proud architect.
Young William dreamed of being an artist, a musician, a photographer, or a botanist ...
William was interested in everything!
When he was twelve, a friend showed him experiments with crystals, and he knew this was far more exciting than any other subject.
He began to collect glassware and equipment, and set up a lab in his house, in Shadwell, East London.
There he mixed and measured, experimented and examined."
