science · 31 March 1831 · 193 years ago
birth
Born 31 Mar 1831; died 11 Mar 1892 at age 60.
Scottish chemist who, independently of August Kekulé, proposed the tetravalency of carbon and the ability of carbon atoms to bond with one another to form long chains, which concepts are fundamental to understanding the molecules found in living organisms. He also created the use of a line between element symbols to indicate a chemical bond. He wrote these landmark ideas in a paper to be submitted to the French Academy of Sciences through his superior, Adolphe Wurtz. Sadly for Couper, that paper was not forwarded from the lab in a timely fashion, and meanwhile another chemist, August Kekulé had published the same, though independent, idea of tetravalence, depriving Couper of his due fame.
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