Association examination

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The chemical association examination was a German academic examination in chemistry . It was introduced in 1898 by the Association of Laboratory Board Members at German universities and, above all, accepted at universities and technical colleges until 1918 . This anticipated the introduction of a state examination in chemistry, which some German university professors rejected as restricting their academic freedom. The association examination should demonstrate practical and theoretical basic knowledge of organic and inorganic chemistry . Passing the examination was a prerequisite for admission to the doctorate or diploma examination.

Emergence

At the universities of the German Empire , chemistry studies were part of the philosophy faculties. Since graduates of chemistry studies, unlike graduates of other study programs, were not eligible for teaching , but usually went to the chemical industry , there were no state examinations for them. In the 1890s, however, the number of voices calling for suitable tests increased among chemists in industry and at universities. It was criticized that at the universities the basic training in inorganic and analytical chemistry was neglected in favor of specialized research. The graduates are therefore highly specialized, but poorly qualified for everyday work. In addition, the need for knowledge of organic chemistry, which was still the focus of education in universities, decreased in the chemical industry. In some cases, the chemical companies felt compelled to offer their own advanced training courses in order to compensate for the deficits of university studies.

In the mid-1890s, even university professors criticized the fact that chemistry students could obtain a doctorate without having the most elementary basic knowledge in their subject. In particular at the small universities of Freiburg , Heidelberg , Erlangen and Rostock , a relatively large number of doctorates were accepted. Education at technical colleges, on the other hand, was broader than at universities, but without these having the right to award doctorates, so that most aspiring chemists either studied at a technical college or only at one university.

Representatives from universities, technical colleges, and the government attempted in the early 1890s to introduce a uniform state examination for all chemists. Johannes Wislicenus and Emil Fischer took the initiative with the support of the Association for the Protection of the Interests of the Chemical Industry in Germany and in particular Henry Theodore Böttinger and Carl Duisberg from Bayer AG . Wislicenus, Duisberg and Ferdinand Fischer formed a committee on behalf of the German Society for Applied Chemistry , which in 1896 presented a draft for a chemist's exam. Emil Fischer had already introduced an examination for his doctoral students himself. The Society for Applied Chemistry (now the Association of German Chemists ) accepted the draft in 1896, but one year later it met with resistance from the German Electrochemical Society under Wilhelm Ostwald . Ostwald was of the opinion that with the introduction of a state examination it would no longer be necessary to do a doctorate to obtain a degree. He saw a reduction in the number of doctoral students as a threat to chemical research, and he succeeded in getting Adolf von Baeyer and Viktor Meyer on his side.

In order to anticipate the plans for a state examination, Baeyer, who had already introduced his own pre-examinations for his students in his laboratory in the 1880s, urged that the university professors themselves should become active and involve the technical universities. On the occasion of the annual meeting of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors in 1897, the directors of the chemical laboratories of the colleges and universities met and founded a joint association of laboratory board members at German universities . In 1898, the so-called "chemical association examination" was introduced as a separate examination, the implementation provisions of which were unanimously adopted at the association assembly on March 12, 1898.

Contents of the association examination

The association examination consisted on the one hand of a practical examination in qualitative , quantitative and dimensional analysis , in which the composition of a mixture prepared especially for this purpose had to be analyzed, and on the other hand in an oral examination in analytical and inorganic chemistry as well as in elements of organic chemistry. The aim was to only examine students who had worked in the examiner's laboratory for at least one semester. Passing the association examination was a prerequisite for a doctorate or a diploma. The aim of the examination should not only be to check the knowledge of the students who completed their preparatory studies with it, but it should also guarantee the job market that the examined chemists had the necessary basic knowledge. For this purpose, the examination at universities and technical colleges should be essentially the same. At the same time, however, the provisions were kept vague so as not to create the impression that the auditors' academic freedom was being interfered with.

consequences

After the association was able to win over all German professors of chemistry except for Rudolf Fittig and Jacob Volhard , the Association of German Chemists withdrew its proposals for a state examination in the summer of 1898. The association examination was thus effectively established. The immediate consequence of the introduction of the association examination was therefore that the introduction of a state examination for chemists had been prevented. Because the government now saw no more reason to comply with the far-reaching and costly demands of the chemical industry. Since the expectations of the chemical industry were not met, this also meant that fewer chairs were established in certain areas of chemical technology and physical chemistry than would have been the case with the introduction of a state examination.

The association, as an independent organization, was able to have a decisive influence on the standards of academic education in chemistry through its exams, not least because not every chemical laboratory was accepted into the association. Eduard Buchner , who later won the Nobel Prize, was only accepted with reservations because his laboratory was located at the Agricultural University in Berlin and Baeyer had reservations about agrochemistry . Due to its restrictive policy, the association remained an organization of professors in general, organic and inorganic chemistry.

As a result of the introduction of the association examination, the number of doctorates in chemistry also declined at the smaller universities with the exception of the University of Freiburg. The number of chemistry students also decreased, although this was not due solely to the higher educational standards that were now required. The introduction of the new exam meant that the range of seminars at universities was formalized.

By 1918, 9,203 students had taken the association examination. The form and function of the association after 1918 are unclear, although association exams continued to be held until it was finally dissolved by Reich Minister Bernhard Rust on September 1, 1939 .

The reports of the Association of Laboratory Boards at German Universities are available in digitized form for the period from 1898 to 1918 and have been made accessible and searchable as a database in the data entry system (DES) of the Association for Computer Genealogy.

literature

  • Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, pp. 241-271.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, p. 243.
  2. ↑ See implementation provisions for the so-called "chemical association examination" . In: Deutsche Apotheker-Zeitung 21 (1906), p. 364f.
  3. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, p. 260.
  4. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, p. 255.
  5. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic, Proletarian, ... Professional? Shaping Professionalization for German Industrial Chemists, 1887-1920. In: Geoffrey Cocks and Konrad Hugo Jarausch (eds.). German Professions, 1800-1950. Oxford University Press, New York 1990, ISBN 0195055969 , p. 127.
  6. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, pp. 262f.
  7. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, pp. 257-260.
  8. ↑ Jeffrey A. Johnson: Academic Self-Regulation and the Chemical Profession in Imperial Germany. In: Minerva. 23, No. 2 1985, p. 256.
  9. ↑ 347. Association of Laboratory Boards at German Universities. In: German science, education and popular education . tape 5 , no. 13 , 1939, pp. 374 ( digizeitschriften.de ).
  10. ↑ Data entry system. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .
  11. ^ Reports of the Association of Laboratory Boards - GenWiki. Retrieved July 13, 2017 .