Kopp, Hermann Franz Moritz

Kopp, Hermann Franz Moritz (hĕr`män fräntz mō`rĭts kôp), 1817–92, German physical chemist and historian of chemistry. His research concerned the connection between the physical properties and the chemical structure of compounds. He continued Jöns Berzelius's annual reports on developments in chemistry, broadening their scope to include related sciences. Kopp is perhaps best known for his Geschichte der Chemie [history of chemistry] (4 vol., 1843–47).

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Kopp, Hermann Franz Moritz 

Born Oct. 30, 1817, in Hanau; died Feb. 20, 1892, in Heidelberg. German chemist and a historian of chemistry. Professor at the universities of Giessen (from 1843) and Heidelberg (from 1864). Student of J. von Liebig.

Investigating the connection between the physical properties of organic compounds and their composition, Kopp established the constancy of differences in the boiling points of the corresponding derivatives of methane, ethane, and other substances (1842). He also detected (1864) a similar relationship for the molecular specific heats of organic compounds (Kopp-Neumann law). The regularities established by Kopp are of an approximate nature.

WORKS

Geschichte der Chemie, parts 1–4. Braunschweig, 1843–47.
Beiträdge zur Geschichte der Chemie, parts 1–3. Braunschweig, 1869–75.
Entwicklung der Chemie in der neueren Zeit. Munich, 1871–74.
Die Alchemic in dlterer und neuerer Zeit, parts 1–2. Heidelberg, 1886.

REFERENCE

[Obituary.] Berichte der Deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, 1892, vol. 25, pp. 505–21.