Keiran RowellNew post! On the #chemistry of #purple, my favourite colour đ
https://keiran-rowell.github.io/dyes/2025-11-05-aniline-and-the-german-chemical-industry/
This tale winds its way past sea snails and togas đïž, coal tar and dream snakes đ, industrial conglomerates and chemical theory ⏠ⷠâŁ, to flow back in recirculation to fundamental light-sensitive cells themselves đïžđĄđŠ
Spend time with this hue right at the edge of our perception đš
#benzene #Kekulé #dyes #BASF #organic #porphyrin #GravitysRainbow #Pynchon #Perkin #rhodopsin #HistoryofScience #orbitals #art
From Muck to Mauve: the creation of modern dyes from coal tar
Content notice: this post discusses the early dye companies of industrialised pre-WWI Germany that were at one point put to horrific wartime use. World War II is alluded to in a literary work that was famously denied a Pulitzer prize in part because of its confronting content.
Gunnar Hamann
Roland zu Dortmund e.V.
Initiative #ProtectTheKids
