chemistry

Hugo Müller

Hugo Müller is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hugo Müller rather than just read about it. In short: Hugo Müller (29 July 1833 – 23 May 1915) was an Anglo-German analytical chemist, botanist and industrialist. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Key takeaways

Hugo Müller belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hugo Müller to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hugo Müller from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hugo Müller (29 July 1833 – 23 May 1915) was an Anglo-German analytical chemist, botanist and industrialist. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is known for being the first person to synthesize hexachlorobenzene.

Early life Hugo Müller was born on 29 July 1833, in Tirschenreuth, Germany. He studied chemistry at Leipzig University. He was a student of Friedrich Wöhler at the University of Göttingen, where he earned his PhD. He was also assistant to Justus von Liebig at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Career Müller moved to the United Kingdom in 1855 to work with Warren De la Rue as recommended by Liebig. De la Rue and Müller developed a chloride of silver battery. He earned a Legum Doctor degree from the University of St Andrews and a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Manchester. He also worked with John Stenhouse. Müller discovered that iodine could be used as a catalyst in chlorination. In 1864, Müller discovered how to transform mono-functional carboxylic acids into di-functional ones by introducing an additional carboxyl group. Using this technique Müller managed to synthesize of succinic acid from propionic acid. Around the same time, Hermann Kolbe had independently discovered a similar reaction, transforming acetic acid into malonic acid—a process Müller had also investigated. During a meeting of the Chemical Society, Müller commented on an earlier publication by Maxwell Simpson on obtaining succinic acid from ethylene, but Müller still claimed priority over the succinic to propionic acid process. After Edward Frankland mediated the dispute through correspondence, Müller and Kolbe agreed to publish their findings side by side in the Journal of the Chemical Society. The priority of the discovery was also disputed by Hans Hübner who had partially published his work on the same reaction and by Friedrich Konrad Beilstein who accused Müller, Kolbe and others of unethical practices. Kolbe and Müller agreed to collaborate, with Kolbe reserving exclusivity on cyanoacetic acids. However, the same year Müller also published the synthesis of trichloroacetic acid with potassium cyanide without notifying Kolbe. From that point forward, the two ceased all communication. The same year, Müller also synthesized the compound hexachlorobenzene by the reaction of benzene and antimony pentachloride. Müller became a consultant for De La Rue company before leaving academic research to pursue an industrial career. He became a partner of the company and remained there until 1902. The company manufactured postage stamps and banknotes. After retiring, he continued his research at the Davy-Faraday Laboratory. His work extended to horticulture. Studying the species of Primula, he discovered that their bloom is related the presence of flavone.

Personal life and death Müller married Elizabeth Russell in 1878, who survived him and died in 1931. They had two daughters. Müller was naturalized as a British citizen after marriage. His work on horticulture led him to develop a vast garden in his home at Camberley, Surrey, England. Hugo Müller died on 23 May 1915 at his home. Since his school days Müller had collected mineral specimens, which his widow Elisabeth presented to the Oxford University Museum Of Natural History in 1915.

Honors and awards Müller was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society on 7 June 1866. He was their treasurer but resigned from the society when World War I started, due to personal convictions. He joined the Chemical Society in 1859, becoming its foreign secretary from 1869 to 1885 and president of the society from 1885 to 1887. He was also a member of the Royal Horticultural Society.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hugo Müller

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hugo Müller claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hugo Müller before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hugo Müller ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hugo Müller

In research: Hugo Müller appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hugo Müller in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hugo Müller is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1833 births, 1915 deaths, Analytical chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hugo Müller outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hugo Müller in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hugo Müller means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hugo Müller out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hugo Müller in simple terms?

Hugo Müller (29 July 1833 – 23 May 1915) was an Anglo-German analytical chemist, botanist and industrialist. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Why does Hugo Müller matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hugo Müller?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hugo Müller.