# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/adolph-wilhelm-hermann-kolbe
# Generated: 2026-08-15T03:13:46.963Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/adolph-wilhelm-hermann-kolbe"
name: "Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe"
slug: "adolph-wilhelm-hermann-kolbe"
description: "Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe was a German chemist and academic, and a major contributor to the birth of modern organic chemistry. He was a professor at Marburg and Leipzig. Kolbe was the first to apply the term synthesis in a chemical context, and contributed to the philosophical demise of vitalism through synthesis of the organic substance acetic acid from carbon disulfide, and also contributed to the development of structural theory. This was done via modifications to the idea of \"radicals\" and accurate prediction of the existence of secondary and tertiary alcohols, and to the emerging array of organic reactions through his Kolbe electrolysis of carboxylate salts, the Kolbe-Schmitt reaction in the preparation of aspirin and the Kolbe nitrile synthesis. After studies with Wöhler and Bunsen, Kolbe was involved with the early internationalization of chemistry through work in London. He was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and won the Royal Society of London's Davy Medal in the year of his death. Despite these accomplishments and his training important members of the next generation of chemists, Kolbe is best remembered for editing the Journal für Praktische Chemie for more than a decade, in which his vituperative essays on Kekulé's structure of benzene, van't Hoff's theory on the origin of chirality and Baeyer's reforms of nomenclature were personally critical and linguistically violent. Kolbe died of a heart attack in Leipzig at age 66, six years after the death of his wife, Charlotte."
tagline: "German chemist (1818–1884)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Hermann_Kolbe.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1818-09-27"
deathDate: "1884-11-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           51.22
  momentum:             0
  historical:           21.16890133333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%83%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%87"
    title: "هيرمان كولبه"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%83%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%87"
    title: "هيرمان كولبه"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%DA%A9%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%87"
    title: "هرمان کولبه"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%84_%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC_%D0%93%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D1%8D"
    title: "Адольф Вільгельм Герман Кольбэ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Wilhelm_Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Wilhelm_Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Wilhelm_Herman_Kolbe"
    title: "Adolf Wilhelm Herman Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86_%DA%A9%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%87"
    title: "هرمان کولبه"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gd.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Wilhelm_Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%9E%D7%9F_%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%94"
    title: "הרמן קולבה"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%80%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D4%BF%D5%B8%D5%AC%D5%A2%D5%A5"
    title: "Հերման Կոլբե"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Wilhelm_Hermann_Kolbe"
    title: "Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%98%E3%83%AB%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%AB%E3%83%99"
    title: "ヘルマン・コルベ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%85%E0%B2%A1%E0%B2%BE%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AB%E0%B3%8D_%E0%B2%B5%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D%E2%80%8C%E0%B2%B9%E0%B3%86%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%8D_%E0%B2%B9%E0%B3%86%E0%B2%B0%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AE%E0%B2%A8%E0%B3%8D_%E0%B2%95%E0%B3%8A%E0%B2%B2%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AC%E0%B3%86"
    title: "ಅಡಾಲ್ಫ್ ವಿಲ್‌ಹೆಲ್ಮ್ ಹೆರ್ಮನ್ ಕೊಲ್ಬೆ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermannus_Kolbe"
    title: "Hermannus Kolbe"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q76621"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump