Post by Jens Aßmann

The moment BASF was born: “It was the 6th of April, 1865. On that day it came to pass that in house D 3, 12, [in the city of Mannheim] in the apartment of Dr. jur. Leopold Ladenburg, the accomplished appellate court advocate and attorney in Mannheim, several of our city's keen minds gathered — men of high repute and standing — to sign the articles of association of the joint-stock company Badische Anilin- & Sodafabrik.”   The names of the entrepreneurs, scientists, and financiers that gathered on that day sound very familiar to BASF colleagues esp. those who live here in the region:   “Among them was Friedrich Engelhorn, the gas manufacturer and founder of an aniline and coal-tar dye works located in the Jungbusch district, a personality of uncommon stature who drew everything around him into his orbit. Engelhorn's entrepreneurial spirit communicated itself to those present, who by their signatures were to have the contract notarially certified.” He was not alone: “Among them were the chemists 🧪 Carl and August Clemm, the already aging banker 📈 Seligmann Ladenburg together with his younger brother Leopold and his 38-year-old son Carl, the former mayor 👤 Friedrich Reiß, father of Carl and Anna Reiß, and the well-to-do private 🤵‍♂️ gentleman Carl Fries.”   The BASF Avengers. Or let's say: the first generation.  “Seligmann Ladenburg”, btw, is the name of meeting rooms in our legendary BASF Gesellschaftshaus. That’s where I heard that name for the first time. And it took a while until I realized that “Seligmann” was the given name. The little book, published in 1959 in Mannheim by the "Gesellschaft der Freunde Mannheims und der ehemaligen Kurpfalz, Mannheimer Altertumsverein von 1859", is one of the treasures I found when we moved our office here in Ludwigshafen. It has plenty of stories for future posts 😊 #wecreatechemistry #chemistry #chemicalindustry #science