Celebrating 200 years of Julius Adolph Stoeckhardt, the author of Schule der Chemie. Using history to learn chemistry

Resumen

Julius Adolph Stoeckhardt born in Saxonia in 1809 was not only a great chemist, he was also an excellent teacher and propagator of chemistry. The 200th anniversary of his birth gives us occasion to remember his life and his scientific work. His book Schule der Chemie was one of the most successful textbooks in the field of chemistry. It was first published in 1846 in Germany, translated to several foreign languages, and mentioned by Nobel-Prize-winners like Emil Fischer and Wilhelm Ostwald as an important access to chemistry for them. This paper explores historical pathways in learning chemistry, as well as the possibility for an historical approach to chemical problems as one interesting and effective method for learning and teaching chemistry.