Bernhard Tollens
Bernhard Tollens (Hamburg, July 30, 1841 - Göttingen, January 31, 1918) was a German chemist. biography
Bernhard Tollens was born in Hamburg, where he went to the Johanneum School (Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums), a classical gymnasium. There he was strongly influenced by his science teacher Karl Möbius. After graduating in 1857, Tollens started teaching as a pharmacy student.
In 1862 he began chemistry in Göttingen, in the laboratory of Friedrich Wöhler. Already in 1864 Tollens wrote his dissertation and he received the degree of doctor without defending it. This was possible through the intervention of Wöhler. That way Tollens could start with an attractive job in a bronze foundry. Still, after 6 months, he gave this job to assist in the research group of Emil Erlenmeyer at the University of Heidelberg for 6 months. After that he worked for 11 months with Charles-Adolphe Wurtz in Paris and was the head of a laboratory at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
However, he returned to Göttingen in 1872 with his first teacher, Wöhler. He performed various tasks until his death in 1918. During his last years in Göttingen, Tollens began his research on carbohydrates. This research led to a large number of publications and the clarification of various molecular structures, including the Tollens reagent. Main publications
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