July 14th marks the passing of William Perkin. Perkin was an English chemist best known for starting the synthetic dye industry with his accidental discovery of the aniline dye mauveine. At 15 years old, Perkin was studying chemistry under the German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann. Hoffmann believed it was possible to synthesize the antimalarial drug quinine and set the young Perkin to the task. During one Easter break when his boss returned to Germany, Perkin continued his work at his home laboratory when one of his aniline mixtures produced a vivid purple color. He thought he had found something interesting, but it wasn't what his teacher wanted, so he kept his discovery to himself. He continued to test his new dye mixture with his friend Arthur Church and brother Thomas. They found the dye was stable after washing and long exposures to light and sent samples to textile mills to get the opinions of experts. Dyes at this time were from natural products that were expensive to produce. A relatively inexpensive source of fabric coloring could have profound commercial success.
Perkin filed a patent for his dye and called it mauveine when he was only 18 years old. Using capital from his father, he found a way to produce his dye in quantity and cheaply. His business took off on a grand scale, making the young Perkin extremely wealthy and began a new industry in Europe.
Find out what else occurred on this day in science history.
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