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Paul Walden
(26 Jul 1863 - 24 Jan 1957)
Russian-German chemist.
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Science Quotes by Paul Walden (2 quotes)
A German once has said of the Chemical Laboratory in Munich: “In diesem Hause stinkt es sehr, Dies kommt von Adolf Baeyer her.” [It stinks a lot in this house; this comes from Adolf Baeyer.]
— Paul Walden
From 'What Can the Modern Chemist Learn From the Old Alchemy?', Introductory Lecture (1917), delivered at Cornell University, written in German, translated by L.F. Audrieth, and published in Salts, Acids, and Bases: Electrolytes Stereochemistry (1929), 1, as Vol. 4 of the George Fisher Baker Non-Resident Lectureship in Chemistry at Cornell University. Translation of German part of above quote by Webmaster using Google Translate.
We modern chemists, the witnesses and workers of this “Age of Chemistry,” can learn something from the old alchemy, full as it was of errors and fantasies! … Let the Past furnish us a warning against too much phantasy in modern chemistry.
— Paul Walden
From 'What Can the Modern Chemist Learn From the Old Alchemy?', Introductory Lecture (1917), delivered at Cornell University, written in German, translated by L.F. Audrieth, and published in Salts, Acids, and Bases: Electrolytes Stereochemistry (1929), 1-2, as Vol. 4 of the George Fisher Baker Non-Resident Lectureship in Chemistry at Cornell University.
See also:
- 26 Jul - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Walden's birth.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
