Google Doodle raises a cup of joe to Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge (CNET)
You can thank Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge for making some eye-opening discoveries, including one that's an integral part of our lives 200 years later.
The German analytical chemist began conducting chemical experiments at a young age, identifying the pupil-dilating effects of belladonna when he accidentally splashed a drop of the toxic perennial, also known as deadly nightshade, into his eye.
But a stimulating, 1819 discovery is the reason Google will be celebrating Runge's 225th birthday Friday by way of an animated Doodle. For after Runge demonstrated his belladonna discovery to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, he was encouraged to analyze the chemical makeup of coffee beans, leading a few months later to the identification of caffeine as its active ingredient (cont).
In every late night study session, every early morning data collection, every time you go cross-eyed reviewing your code for errors or combing through the latest reviewer comments for a journal submission... caffeine is there. Raise your mug to a man whose contributions to Chemistry continue to fuel scientists across the centuries. (And whose belladonna mishaps clearly demonstrate the importance of proper PPE and lab safety!!)
