In 1896 , chemist Arthur Eichengrün bring forth a miracle — a saturated acetylsalicylic acid with aesculapian applications . This was a few long time before Lizzie Magie excogitate the panel game Monopoly , and if only the two knew each other , they might have had a peck to verbalise about . Just as Parker Brothersstole Monopoly from Magieand whitewashed her from chronicle , so to did Bayer make Eichengrün an nonperson and John Cash in on his invention : the aspirin .
Six years after earning his doctorate from what is today Rheinisch - Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University ( which is kind of the MIT of Germany ) , Eichengrün scored a job at Bayer , a German pharmaceutical party . He did some pretty great work there , which included the development of Protargol , a treatment for gonorrhea . This was an specially bighearted deal because antibiotics and penicillin were still decades away . Most career would top out with beating the Clap , but Eichengrün was just getting started .
The good properties of salicylic Zen were well known when Eichengrün started his research . In 460 BC , Hippocrates himself was grinding up willow tree diagram barque to aid cover vexation . Salicylic acid is the alive element in such excerpt , though it did n’t always go down well , unless you consider “ well ” to let in a bleeding stomach , diarrhea , and , sometimes , last . When Arthur Eichengrün synthesized his pure acetylsalicylic acid , the potential was fairly obvious . He tested the medicine first on himself , and when he did n’t pass away , began tryout through local doctor . According toThe Discovery of acetylsalicylic acid : A Reappraisal , the resolution were highly encouraging . The medicine seemed to help patients who were lose from pain , without inducing the generally horrific side outcome :
( So anyway , the potential of aspirin was obvious to almost everyone . )
A few years later , Eichengrün leave behind Bayer and started his own research lab . He developed a type of plastic called Cellon , which found a huge demand during World War I for pilots ’ goggles and soldier ’ gun masks . The research laboratory also created a cellulose ethanoate coat for the fabric used on aircraft , wee-wee their wings water resistant . finally Eichengrün open his own manufacturing plant , Cellon - Werke , and march on the science of injectant molding , which is still used today in credit card .
In 1933 , the Nazis forced Eichengrün to sell his companionship to “ Aryan ” Germans . Ten year later , he was lag , and in 1944 , was transmit to Theresienstadt concentration camp . ( Thirty - three thousand Jews die at Theresienstadt , with X of thousands more load onto trains and transport to Treblinka and Auschwitz . ) While at Theresienstadt , Eichengrün post a alphabetic character to Bayer involve for help . In the letter , he listed his many contributions to the company , including the innovation of aspirin . Help from Bayer never came . He and his fellow captives were freed on May 8 , 1945 , when Soviet troops liberate the cantonment . Eichengrün die in Bavaria the following class .
We do n’t make love why Bayer make quotation to Felix Hoffman , an underling of Eichengrün , for the invention of aspirin ( alongside Heinrich Dreser , inexplicably ) . And it was gruelling for Eichengrün to test that he was the scientist creditworthy for aspirin , picture as how the Nazis banned Jews from pretty much everything that was n’t horrible . mayhap Bayer was scared of anger Hitler , and Felix Hoffman was just a safer name to go with . I do n’t know . But I do have to enquire why , today , when Hitler is definitely idle , Bayercontinues to denyEichengrün ’s true call to have fabricate aspirin . It ’s a great self-aggrandising mystery .
As for Bayer itself , because 70,000 metric tons of it are consumed a year , everyone make love a chip about what it can do . Headaches and fevers are the obvious ones . Studies also indicate that it can tighten the risk of decease from heart attack and avail plow Kawasaki disease . It can help prevent colorectal Crab . It can sometimes help prevent stroke . It can even remove exertion stains from your t - shirts . No research has yet establish a connection between Arthur Eichengrün ’s invention and spontaneous unicorn - and - rainbow generation , but you have to figure it ’s not far off .
