Theodor Wertheim

Theodor Wertheim
Born(1820-12-25)25 December 1820
Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died6 July 1864(1864-07-06) (aged 43)
Vienna, Austrian Empire
NationalityAustrian

Theodor Wertheim (25 December 1820 – 6 July 1864) was an Austrian chemist born in Vienna. He was the father of gynecologist Ernst Wertheim (1864-1920).

He studied organic chemistry in Berlin as a pupil of Eilhard Mitscherlich, and in 1843 travelled to the University of Prague, where he studied under Josef Redtenbacher.[1][2] He served as privatdozent in Vienna, and from 1853 to 1860, was a professor at the University of Pest. From 1861 onward, he was a professor at the University of Graz. In May 1864, he moved back to Vienna, where he died soon afterwards.

In 1848 he became a corresponding member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences.[1]

In 1844 Wertheim distilled a pungent substance from garlic, naming it "allyl".[3] In his research, he noticed the close relationship between garlic oil and mustard oil.[4][5] He published a number of studies on garlic oil, piperine, quinine and coniine in Liebig’s Annalen der Chemie.

  1. ^ a b {Statement based on translated text from an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia.
  2. ^ Redtenbacher Josef @ Austrian Biographical Encyclopaedia 1815-1950 (ÖBL). Volume 9.
  3. ^ Ernst Wertheim @ Who Named It
  4. ^ The Volatile Oils by Eduard Gildemeister, Friedrich Hoffmann, Edward Kremers
  5. ^ Theodor Wertheim: About the relationship between mustard oil and garlic oil, Annalen der Chemie and Pharmacie 55/3 (1845) 297-304.