Congreso de Karlsruhe: 150 años.

Hoy se cumplen 150 años de la inauguración del Congreso de Karlsruhe, que marcó el comienzo de la Química moderna.

Antes del Congreso, la Química era un caos. Los químicos de la época (muchos de ellos brillantísimos con gran influencia en la historia de la ciencia) no se ponían de acuerdo sobre la existencia o no (y la distinción) entre átomo y molécula; había una enorme confusión entre peso atómico (asignando pesos atómicos distintos a los mismos elementos), peso molecular y peso equivalente; y no había acuerdo en la nomenclatura, formulación y símbolos químicos.

Para intentar debatir ideas y llegar a algún acuerdo sobre los aspectos indicados en el párrafo anterior, Kekulé, Wurtz y Weltzien convocaron un congreso para los días 3, 4 y 5 de septiembre de 1860 en la ciudad alemana de Karlsruhe. Se invitó a todos los químicos del mundo y el Congreso tuvo una gran asistencia, con 127 participantes de 12 países (un español, el profesor Ramon Torres, de la universidad central de Madrid), la mayoría (126) de países europeos y un mexicano (Posselt). Algunos de los químicos más destacados asistieron, entre los que cabe citar a Bunsen, Baeyer, Erlenmeyer, Hoffmann, Meyer, Frankland, Kekulé, Dumas, Wurtz, Crum Brown, Borodin (el famoso músico, también profesor de Química) y Wislicenus. Al congreso también asistieron dos jóvenes químicos, Cannizzaro (1826-1910) y Mendeleev (1834-1907). Uno de ellos (Cannizzaro) tuvo una influencia enorme en el desarrollo del Congreso; y el otro (Mendeleev) recibió inspiración fundamental para desarrollar la Tabla Periódica de los Elementos Químicos (1869).

Stanislao Cannizzaro, basándose en la hipótesis de Avogadro, había elaborado un documento (adaptado a partir de uno escrito en 1858, Sunto di un corso di Filosofia Chimica)  explicando las diferencias entre átomo y molécula; así como en las distinciones entre pesos atómicos y moleculares, proponiendo pesos atómicos a los elementos basándose en los datos experimentales conocidos. De esta manera se empezó a resolver muchos problemas de composición de los compuestos químicos (por ejemplo, en aquella época, la fórmula del agua podía ser H2O ó H2O2). Cannizzaro con sus intervenciones en el Congreso y con la distribución del  documento  a los participantes, contribuyó a «poner orden» en la Química.

A partir del Congreso de Karlsruhe empezó la sistematización de la Química. Se distinguió entre átomo y molécula, se asignaron pesos (masas) atómicos y moleculares aceptados por la comunidad química, se reconoció que ciertos elementos químicos eran diatómicos, se adoptaron fórmulas que representasen mejor los compuestos químicos (a propuesta de Kekulé), se profundizó en el concepto de valencia (a partir de los estudios de Frankland).

También, el Congreso de Karlsruhe fue el punto de partida para la organización regular de congresos de Química y para la consolidación de las sociedades químicas nacionales e internacionales que dieron lugar a la IUPAC (Unión Internacional de Química Pura y Aplicada) en 1919.

Espero que el año 2011, Año Internacional de la Química, suponga un revulsivo como lo fue el año 1860; quizás no tanto en el plano científico, sino en el de la influencia de la Química en la sociedad.

Bernardo Herradón

IQOG-CSIC

herradon@iqog.csic.es

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