Karlsruhe Congress

[2] As an example of the problems facing the delegates, Kekulé's Lehrbuch der Organischen Chemie gave nineteen different formulas used by chemists for acetic acid, as shown in the figure on this page.

[3][4] An understanding was reached on the time and place of the meeting, and printing of a circular addressed to European chemists listed below, which explained the objectives and goals of an international congress was agreed upon.

However, on the meeting's last day reprints of Stanislao Cannizzaro's 1858 paper on atomic weights,[10] in which he utilized earlier work by Amedeo Avogadro and André-Marie Ampère, were distributed.

Lothar Meyer later wrote that on reading Cannizzaro's paper,[11][12] I was astonished at its clarity, the little manuscript covered all the important points in dispute.

It was as if scales fell from my eyes, doubts vanished, and a feeling of calm certainty came over me.An important long-term result of the Karlsruhe Congress was the adoption of the now-familiar atomic weights.

The number of people who wanted to participate was considerable, and on 3 September 1860, 140 chemists met together in the meeting room of the second Chamber of State, which was made available by the Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden.