A Scots (memory fails on who?) discovered coal tar-- but the germans turned coal tar into aniline dyes-- and went on to lead the world in chemistry and physics for almost 100 years! No, No! (he cried in great pain)
Whilst the Germans were pre-eminent in many branches of Science (Leibnitz in particular - but many others also) this one was definitely English. Coal Tar was a by-product of the Gas-making industry, so was not really "discovered" at all. In 1856, a chap named Sir William Perkins (born London, 1830) was messing around with coal tar (actually, trying to synthesise it, for some reason which I forget) and accidently produced a beautiful purple liquid which stained everything around it indelibly. As purple is a fiendishly expensive colour to produce from organic ingredients, he realised that he was on a winner. This purple was the first aniline dye.
New colours were quickly developed in both England and France (which also had a well developed textile industry) Unfortunately, neither France nor Britain put enough investment into developing the production side, and the dyes were not produced in large enough quantities for the voracious textile industry, so the aniline dyes remained expensive.
It was the Germans who saw the market opportunity and developed large scale production techniques. We Brits ended up (as usual
) importing most of our synthetic dyes from Germany.
For further info, read: Grierson S. (1989)
Dyeing and Dyestuffs Shire Publications
for a more learned treatment, try: Hardie D.W.F. & Pratt J.D. (1966)
A History of the Modern British Chemical Industtry Pergammon
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