"Type"

February 10, 2008

Charles Frédéric Gerhardt (1816-1856). French chemist. A student of Liebig at Giessen and an assistant to Dumas at Paris, Gerhardt became professor of chemistry first at Montpelier (1844-1848) and, shortly before his premature death at age 50, at the University of Strasbourg (1855). Best known for his attempts to systematize the newly emerging field of organic chemistry - much of which was done in collaboration with his fellow French chemist, Auguste Laurent - he is considered as one of the founders of type theory and as one of the pioneers in the application of both the functional group and the homologous series concepts to organic chemistry—approaches which formed the foundations of his influential textbooks Précis de chimie organique (1844) and Introduction á l'etude de la chime par le système unitaire (1848).

Courtesy of Professor William Jensen, Oesper Chair of the History of Chemistry and Chemical Education, University of Cincinnati

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