In July 2015 a new plaque was installed in the German city of Marburg by the Society of German Chemists honoring Johannes Hartmann (1568-1631) as the first professor of chemical pharmacy and his <i>laboratorium chymicum publicum</i> as the “earliest university laboratory for the instruction of chemistry.”  However, when Hartmann started teaching “chemistry” the battle over what the discipline of chemistry was, was still being fought.  From some points of view what formed the basis for what Hartmann taught at Marburg was something altogether despicable, and qualified as neither an “art” nor a “science.”  One person to object vociferously to Hartmann’s teaching was Andreas Libau (also called Libavius), a physician, schoolmaster, and alchemist living for the most part in the German city of Coburg.  When Libau learned that a public chemical laboratory was to be erected at Marburg, he must have been delighted.  When he learned that Hartmann was to teach “chemistry” there, it was probably one of the worst days of his life.  If the ghost of Andreas Libau had been in the crowd at Marburg last July, how would it have reacted?  And why would Libau’s ghost have perhaps chilled those assembled by roaring out that, although correct in drawing attention to the teaching of techniques and practices, the Marburg plaque, in other respects, had really missed the mark?

Ghost of Libau and problems with teaching “chemistry”

251st National Meeting (2016)

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