Bernhard Jacques Flürscheim (1874–1955), Organic and Theoretical Chemist

Abstract

Bernard Jacques Flürscheim (1874–1955) was born in south Germany, of German-French parentage. His father Michael was a prosperous industrialist of socialist views. Flürscheim had an international upbringing in Germany, France, Switzerland and England. He became of independent means when still quite young, was attracted into scientific studies, and received a chemical education in Switzerland and Germany, working in the Institutes of Adolph Werner in Zürich, Emil Knoevenagel in Heidelberg, and Johannes Thiele in Strasbourg. In 1902 he married an Englishwoman Norah Northover, and about 1905 they settled in Fleet, Hampshire, in a house which became their home for the rest of their lives. Flürscheim built a private laboratory for organic chemistry adjacent to their house. During 1905–1907 and 1925–1928 he had a research assistant and worked in the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory of the Royal Institution. His scientific work from 1900 onwards was directed largely to developing a pre-electronic theory of organic chemistry, which became known as the theory of alternating affinities. After the discovery of the role of the electron-pair in chemical bonding, the parts of Flürscheim's theory which had proved valuable were translated by others into electronic terms. He also discovered 2,3,4,6-tetranitroaniline and worked to develop this as an explosive for the Allies in World War I.