16 Facts About Paul Walden

Paul Walden was a Russian, Latvian and German chemist known for his work in stereochemistry and history of chemistry.

Paul Walden was born in Rozulas in the Russian Empire in a large Latvian peasant family.

In 1888, Walden graduated from the university with a degree in chemical engineering and continued working at the Chemistry Department as an assistant to professor C Bischof.

Under his guidance, Paul Walden began compiling "Handbook of Stereochemistry" which was published in 1894.

In preparation of this handbook, Paul Walden had to perform numerous chemical syntheses and characterizations which resulted in 57 journal papers on stereochemistry alone, published between 1889 and 1900 in Russian and foreign journals 57 articles on the stereochemistry.

Paul Walden continued his research in the field of physical chemistry, establishing in 1889 that the ionizing power of non-aqueous solvent is directly proportional to the dielectric constant.

Ostwald suggested that he stay in Leipzig as a private lecturer, but Paul Walden declined, hoping for a better career in Riga.

In 1895, Paul Walden made his most remarkable discovery which was later named Paul Walden inversion, namely that various stereoisomers can be obtained from the same compound via certain exchange reactions involving hydrogen.

Whereas previously, all teaching was conducted in German and Paul Walden was the only professor giving some courses in Russian, from then on, Russian became the official language.

In May 1910, Paul Walden was elected a member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences and in 1911 was invited to Saint Petersburg to lead the Chemical Laboratories of the academy founded in 1748, by Mikhail Lomonosov.

Paul Walden was appointed as professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Rostock where he worked until retirement in 1934.

Paul Walden was offered leading positions in chemistry in Riga and in St Petersburg, but declined.

Paul Walden moved to Berlin and then to Frankfurt am Main, where he became a visiting professor of the history of chemistry at the local university.

Paul Walden met the end of World War II in the French Occupation Zone, cut off from Rostock University, located in the Soviet Zone, and thus left without any source of income.

Paul Walden survived on a modest pension arranged by German chemists, giving occasional lectures in Tubingen and writing memoirs.

Paul Walden died in Gammertingen in 1957, at the age of 93.