the google doodle for today celebrates william henry perkins, discoverer of synthetic purple

[niyad]

William Henry Perkin: how an 18-year-old accidentally discovered the first synthetic dye
Perkin, who would be 180 years old today, was a chemist who pioneered synthetic purple dye. It changed the history of clothes.

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William Henry Perkin seated in his study in Sudbury, Derbyshire. SSPL via Getty Images

In 1856, the precocious scientist William Henry Perkin failed in an experiment to synthetically produce quinine, a chemical that helps treat malaria. Instead of quinine, his beakers were left filled with a dirty brown sludge. But something amazing happened when Perkin, who was only 18 at the time, cleaned out those beakers with alcohol. The brown sludge became a bright, rich fuchsia-purple dye. This accident was the first discovery of a synthetic dye, which Perkin named “mauveine.” For this achievement, Google is celebrating Perkin with a Google Doodle on what would have been his 180th birthday.

Before Perkin’s discovery, dyes and pigments had to be sourced from plants, metals, minerals, or organic materials like bat guano, often at significant cost and effort. The element cadmium, for instance, can be ground down to make bright reds, oranges, and yellows. Lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone, creates deep ultramarine blues. And you can make indigo, a natural purple-blue dye, from a subtropical plant, but it’s a lengthy and difficult process. These natural purple dyes also faded rapidly, the Yale chemistry department explains on its website.

Mauveine was a more permanent stain. And the discovery changed everything, beginning a long chain of chemistry advances that would make bright, inexpensive synthetic color available to the masses.

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Sir William Perkin’s (1838-1907) original stoppered bottle of mauveine dye, labeled “Original Mauveine.” SSPL via Getty Images

Here’s what mauveine looks like in fabric:
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https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/3/12/17109258/sir-william-henry-perkin-google-doodle-birthday-180-mauveine-purple-dye
A length of dress fabric and a silk skein both dyed with mauveine, mounted in a wooden frame. SSPL via Getty Images

Though Perkin was young, he sensed a business opportunity, patented the dye, and quickly opened a dyeworks shop in London. And by 1862, Queen Victoria herself was wearing garments dyed with mauveine.