2. 考研
  3. William Henry Perkin was born on March 12, 1838, in London, England. As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became im

William Henry Perkin was born on March 12, 1838, in London, England. As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became im

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问题     William Henry Perkin was born on March 12, 1838, in London, England. As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became immersed in the study of chemistry. His talent and devotion to the subject were perceived by his teacher, Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to attend a series of lectures given by the eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. Those speeches fired the young chemist’s enthusiasm further, and he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry, which he succeeded in entering in 1853, at the age of 15.
    At the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College of Chemistry was headed by the noted German chemist August Wilhelm Hofmann. Perkin’s scientific gifts soon caught Hofmann’s attention and, within two years, he became Hofmann’s youngest assistant. Not long after that, Perkin made the scientific breakthrough that would bring him both fame and fortune.
    At the time, quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria. The drug is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree, native to South America, and by 1856 demand for the drug was surpassing the available supply. During his vacation in 1856, Perkin spent his time in the laboratory on the top floor of his family’s house. He was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline, an inexpensive and readily available coal tar waste product. Despite his best efforts, however, he did not end up with quinine. Instead, he produced a mysterious dark sludge. Luckily, Perkin’s scientific training and nature prompted him to investigate the substance further. Incorporating potassium dichromate and alcohol into the aniline at various stages of the experimental process, he finally produced a deep purple solution.
    Historically, textile dyes were made from such natural sources as plants and animal excretions. Some of these, such as the glandular mucus of snails, were difficult to obtain and outrageously expensive. Indeed, the purple color extracted from a snail was once so costly that in society at the time only the rich could afford it. Further, natural dyes tended to fade quickly. It was against this backdrop that Perkin’s discovery was made.
    Perkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could be used to color fabric, thus making it the world’s first synthetic dye. Realizing the importance of this breakthrough, he lost no time in patenting it. But perhaps the most fascinating of all Perkin’s reactions to his find was his nearly instant recognition that the new dye had commercial possibilities.
    With the help of his father and brother, Perkin set up a factory not far from London. Utilizing the cheap and plentiful coal tar that was all almost unlimited byproduct of London’s gas street lighting, the dye works began producing the world’s first synthetically dyed material in 1857.
    Although Perkin’s fame was achieved and fortune assured by his first discovery, the chemist continued his research. Among other dyes he developed and introduced were aniline red (1859) and aniline black (1863) and, in the late 1860s, Perkin’s green. It is important to note that Perkin’s synthetic dye discoveries had outcomes far beyond the merely decorative. The dyes also became vital to medical research in many ways. For instance, they were used to stain previously invisible microbes and bacteria, allowing researchers to identify such bacilli as tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. Artificial dyes continue to play a crucial role today. And, in what would have been particularly pleasing to Perkin, their current use is in the search for a vaccine against malaria.
How did Perkin earn fame and fortune?
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答案He invented and produced the world’s first synthetic dye.
解析 事实细节题。根据fame and fortune定位到第二段最后一句。该句提到，帕金取得了科技上的突破，这让他名利双收。第六段第二句讲到，1857年，这家染厂开始利用廉价而丰富的煤焦油，生产出世界上第一种合成染色材料。由此可知，帕金之所以名利双收，是因为他发明并生产出了世界上第一种合成染料。
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