Rudolph Brandes

Rudolph Brandes (18 October 1795 – 3 December 1842) was a German apothecary and chemist who served as the founding editor of the journal archives of pharmacy from 1820. He also took an interest in meteorology and collaborated with Johann Wolfgant von Goethe and Alexander von Humboldt.

Life and work

Brandes was born in Salzuflen, the son of pharmacist Johann Gottlieb (1751–1816) and Friederike née Nolte. His father held license for their pharmacy in Salzuflen from 1792 and the pharmacy still exists. After studies at Osnabrück and Erfurt and he went to the University of Halle where he received a doctorate in 1817 for a dissertation titled Dissertatio de Strontiane mineralogico-chemica guided by Dr Dobereiner from Jena. His father died on October 16, 1816, and the son returned to take over his father's pharmacy. Brandes worked initially with Bucholz and after his death in 1818, he continued to work on plant compounds. He used his analytical chemistry skills to purify and characterize a number of chemical compounds including delphinine (1819), atropine (1822), hyoscyamine, and acrolein (1838). He travelled to visit pharmacists associations in France and on one visit met Alexander von Humboldt and they corresponded with Goethe (and met him in Weimaer in 1828) on meteorology and drew weather maps. Brandes took an interest in the composition of mineral springs in Europe. In 1820 he founded the Archiv der Pharmazie along with A.P. Du Menil and E. Witting which continues to be published today. He also established a pharmacists' association in northern Germany that he oversaw until his death. The plant genus Brandesia was named in his honour.