Misplaced Pages

#515484

40-670: After Ghent University was founded in 1817, books confiscated by the state during the French period were given to the university. In 1942, the Book Tower ( Boekentoren ) was opened, located next to the Blandijn , which houses the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy. Designed by Henry van de Velde , it has since been the chief architectural feature of the library. The library has evolved in recent years, focusing on decentralization and networking rather than

80-663: A Global Campus in Songdo, South Korea , Ghent University maintains many inter-university partnerships and programs both inside and outside of Europe. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the region was incorporated into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands after the fall of First French Empire . In that same year, he founded two other universities for

120-735: A central facility. Some collections of books are to be found in the faculty libraries; but some books are conventionally gathered together in the university library. A range of electronic resources are available within the UGent network as part of a digital library. The Library has also joined with the Google Books Library Project in digitizing books to be made more widely accessible online. 51°02′41″N 3°43′33″E  /  51.04472°N 3.72583°E  / 51.04472; 3.72583 Ghent University Ghent University ( Dutch : Universiteit Gent , abbreviated as UGent )

160-422: A former student of Kekulé, who argued that Kekulé's 1865 structure implied two distinct "ortho" structures, depending on whether the substituted carbons are separated by a single or a double bond. Since ortho derivatives of benzene were never actually found in more than one isomeric form, Kekulé modified his proposal in 1872 and suggested that the benzene molecule oscillates between two equivalent structures, in such

200-681: A paper in French (for he was then still in Belgium) suggesting that the structure contained a six-membered ring of carbon atoms with alternating single and double bonds. The following year he published a much longer paper in German on the same subject. The empirical formula for benzene had been long known, but its highly unsaturated structure was a challenge to determine. Archibald Scott Couper in 1858 and Joseph Loschmidt in 1861 suggested possible structures that contained multiple double bonds or multiple rings, but

240-551: A way that the single and double bonds continually interchange positions. This implies that all six carbon-carbon bonds are equivalent, as each is single half the time and double half the time. A firmer theoretical basis for a similar idea was later proposed in 1928 by Linus Pauling , who replaced Kekulé's oscillation by the concept of resonance between quantum-mechanical structures. The new understanding of benzene, and hence of all aromatic compounds, proved to be so important for both pure and applied chemistry after 1865 that in 1890

280-779: Is a public research university located in Ghent , Belgium. Located in Flanders , Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting of 50,000 students and 9,000 staff members. The university also supports the Ghent University Library (including the famous Boekentoren ) and the Ghent University Hospital , which is one of the biggest hospitals in Belgium. In addition to satellite campuses elsewhere in Flanders and

320-945: Is also a partner in the development of De Krook , the new public library and media center in the center of Ghent that opened in 2017. Ghent University consistently ranks among the top 100 universities in the world, alongside the Catholic University of Leuven . In 2017, it was ranked, globally, 69th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (or Shanghai ranking) and 125th by QS World University Rankings . For 2021, Ghent University has been ranked, worldwide, 85th by U.S. News & World Report and 96th by Times Higher Education . The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration has also been awarded with an international Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation. The university maintains many partnerships within Belgium, across Europe, and throughout

360-486: The Belgian Revolution , of 1830, the number of students declined, having peaked at 414. Although the faculties of humanities and science were dissolved from the university, they were restored five years later, in 1835. At this time, French also became the language of instruction, taking the place of Latin. Ghent University played a role in the foundation of modern organic chemistry. Friedrich August Kekulé unraveled

400-675: The Berichte der Durstigen Chemischen Gesellschaft (Journal of the Thirsty Chemical Society), a parody of the Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft , only the parody had six monkeys seizing each other in a circle, rather than a single snake as in Kekulé's anecdote. Some historians have suggested that the parody was a lampoon of the snake anecdote, possibly already well-known through oral transmission even if it had not yet appeared in print. Others have speculated that Kekulé's story in 1890

440-937: The Grand Duchy of Hesse . After graduating from secondary school (the Grand Ducal Gymnasium in Darmstadt), in the fall of 1847 he entered the University of Giessen , with the intention of studying architecture. After hearing the lectures of Justus von Liebig in his first semester, he decided to study chemistry. Following four years of study in Giessen and a brief compulsory military service, he took temporary assistantships in Paris (1851–52), in Chur , Switzerland (1852–53), and in London (1853–55), where he

SECTION 10

#1732851398516

480-409: The 1960s, there were several student demonstrations at Ghent University, notably around the Blandijn site, which houses the Faculty of Arts & Philosophy. The most severe of demonstrations took place in 1969 in the wake of May 1968 . In 1991, the university officially changed its name from Rijksuniversiteit Gent (RUG) to Universiteit Gent (UGent), following an increased grant of autonomy by

520-465: The Dutch King William I – was part of a larger policy to stimulate academic lag across the southern provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (which would later become Belgium). The original four faculties comprised Humanities (Letters), Law, Medicine, and Science, with the language of instruction being Latin . In the first year, it had 190 students and 16 professors. In the wake of

560-708: The Flemish people") was launched in 1916. The occupying German administration set up the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium in Ghent under the name Vlaamsche Hoogeschool (Flemish Institute of Higher Learning). Pejoratively referred to as the Von Bissing University , the Vlaamsche Hoogeschoolwas founded in 1916 but was disestablished after the war and the University of Ghent resumed its activities with French as

600-514: The German Chemical Society organized an elaborate appreciation in Kekulé's honor, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of his first benzene paper. Here Kekulé spoke of the creation of the theory. He said that he had discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after having a reverie or day-dream of a snake seizing its own tail (this is an ancient symbol known as the ouroboros ). Another depiction of benzene had appeared in 1886 in

640-428: The development of COinS and Unipept . 51°02′48″N 3°43′41″E  /  51.046582°N 3.727918°E  / 51.046582; 3.727918 August Kekul%C3%A9 Friedrich August Kekulé , later Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz ( / ˈ k eɪ k əl eɪ / KAY -kə-lay , German: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈʔaʊɡʊst ˈkeːkuleː fɔn ʃtʁaˈdoːnɪts] ; 7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896),

680-518: The first courses were begun in 1906. During World War I , Ghent University was closed initially due to the hostilities and subsequently due to the refusal of the academic staff and the students to resume classes while Belgium was occupied . Moritz von Bissing , the German Governor-General of occupied Belgium sought to make the territory easier to govern by exploiting the pre-war linguistic division. The Flamenpolitik ("Policy regarding

720-519: The government of the Flemish Community . The faculty of Politics and Social Sciences is the most recent addition, in 1992. Ghent University had a program founded by Andre Vlerick in 1953, then called Centre for Productivity Studies and Research . The program later evolved into a separate school called Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Management . Later in 1999 together with KU Leuven , Ghent University established Vlerick Business School merging

760-746: The idea of self-linking of carbon atoms (his paper appeared in June 1858), and provided the first molecular formulas where lines symbolize bonds connecting the atoms. For organic chemists, the theory of structure provided dramatic new clarity of understanding, and a reliable guide to both analytic and especially synthetic work. As a consequence, the field of organic chemistry developed explosively from this point. Among those who were most active in pursuing early structural investigations were, in addition to Kekulé and Couper, Frankland , Wurtz , Alexander Crum Brown , Emil Erlenmeyer , and Alexander Butlerov . Kekulé's idea of assigning certain atoms to certain positions within

800-470: The late summer of 1855. In 1895, Kekulé was ennobled by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany , giving him the right to add "von Stradonitz" to his name, referring to a possession of his patrilineal ancestors in Stradonice , Bohemia. His name thus became Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz, without the French accent on the last "e" of his name, and this is the form of the name that some libraries use. This title

840-548: The molecule, and schematically connecting them using what he called their "Verwandtschaftseinheiten" ("affinity units", now called " valences " or "bonds"), was based largely on evidence from chemical reactions, rather than on instrumental methods that could peer directly into the molecule, such as X-ray crystallography . Such physical methods of structural determination had not yet been developed, so chemists of Kekulé's day had to rely almost entirely on so-called "wet" chemistry. Some chemists, notably Hermann Kolbe , heavily criticized

SECTION 20

#1732851398516

880-498: The postwar period, Ghent University became a much larger institution, following the government policy of democratizing higher education in Flanders during the 1950s and 1960s. By 1953, there were more than 3,000 students, and by 1969 more than 11,500. The number of faculties increased to eleven, starting with Applied Sciences in 1957. It was followed by Economics and Veterinary Medicine in 1968, Psychology and Pedagogy, as well as Bioengineering, in 1969, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In

920-446: The same 1890 speech, of an earlier vision of dancing atoms and molecules that led to his theory of structure, published in May 1858. This happened, he claimed, while he was riding on the upper deck of a horse-drawn omnibus in London. Once again, if one takes the anecdote as reflecting an accurate memory of a real event, circumstances related in the anecdote suggest that it must have occurred in

960-520: The sole medium of instruction. In 1923, Cabinet Minister Pierre Nolf put forward a motion to definitively establish the university as a Dutch-speaking university, and this was realized in 1930. August Vermeylen served as the first rector of a Dutch-language university in Belgium. In the Second World War , the German administration of the university attempted to create a German orientation, removing faculty members and installing loyal activists. In

1000-484: The southern provinces as well, alongside Ghent University: University of Liège and State University of Leuven . After the Belgian revolution of 1830, the newly formed Belgian state began to administer Ghent University. In 1930, UGent became the first Dutch -speaking university in Belgium. Previously, French (and, even earlier, Latin) had been the standard academic language in what was Université de Gand . In 1991, it

1040-448: The structure of benzene at Ghent and Adolf von Baeyer (Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer), a student of August Kekulé , made contributions to organic chemistry. In 1882, Sidonie Verhelst became the first female student at Ghent University, in science and pharmacology. In 1903, the Flemish politician Lodewijk De Raet led a successful campaign to begin instruction in Dutch , and

1080-482: The study of aromatic compounds was in its earliest years, and too little evidence was then available to help chemists decide on any particular structure. More evidence was available by 1865, especially regarding the relationships of aromatic isomers . Kekulé argued for his proposed structure by considering the number of isomers observed for derivatives of benzene. For every monoderivative of benzene (C 6 H 5 X, where X = Cl, OH, CH 3 , NH 2 , etc.) only one isomer

1120-562: The two MBA programs of the universities, naming the newborn institute Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School . In 2006, the school rebranded itself as Vlerick Business School . KU Leuven and Ghent University are still the parent institutions of the business school where many of the school's professors teach also in Leuven or Ghent. Nevertheless, UGent still offer MBA programs even after the merger. Ghent University consists of eleven faculties with over 130 individual departments. In addition,

1160-818: The university cooperates with numerous universities for the Erasmus and Erasmus Mundus programs; within the framework of the latter, it heads the International Master of Science in Rural Development and the International Master of Science in Soils and Global Change (IMSOGLO). Beyond Europe, Ghent University conducts exchange programs on all six continents. Frameworks include its campus in South Korea and its 3C Partnership. Ghent University has been instrumental in

1200-634: The university maintains the Zwijnaarde science park and Greenbridge science park . Standing on the Blandijnberg , the Boekentoren houses the Ghent University Library , which contains nearly 3 million volumes. The university library has joined the Google Books Library Project . Among other notable collections, it preserves Papyrus 30 , an early manuscript of the Greek New Testament. The university

1240-513: The use of structural formulas that were offered, as he thought, without proof. However, most chemists followed Kekulé's lead in pursuing and developing what some have called "classical" structure theory, which was modified after the discovery of electrons (1897) and the development of quantum mechanics (in the 1920s). The idea that the number of valences of a given element was invariant was a key component of Kekulé's version of structural chemistry. This generalization suffered from many exceptions, and

Ghent University Library - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-813: The world. Inside Belgium, Ghent University supports the Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms and the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie . Within Europe, it is a member of the Santander Network , the Enlight (previously the U4) Network, and the 3i University Network. It also participates in the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research . In addition,

1320-483: Was a German organic chemist . From the 1850s until his death, Kekulé was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially in the field of theoretical chemistry . He was the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure and in particular the Kekulé structure of benzene . Kekulé never used his first given name; he was known throughout his life as August Kekulé. He did however say it once in his work. After he

1360-419: Was a re-parody of the monkey spoof, and was a mere invention rather than a recollection of an event in his life. Kekulé's 1890 speech, in which these anecdotes appeared, has been translated into English. If one takes the anecdote as reflecting an accurate memory of a real event, circumstances mentioned in the story suggest that it must have happened early in 1862. He told another autobiographical anecdote in

1400-526: Was decisively influenced by Alexander Williamson . His Giessen doctoral degree was awarded in the summer of 1852. In 1856, Kekulé became Privatdozent at the University of Heidelberg . In 1858, he was hired as full professor at the University of Ghent , then in 1867 he was called to Bonn , where he remained for the rest of his career. Basing his ideas on those of predecessors such as Williamson, Charles Gerhardt , Edward Frankland , William Odling , Auguste Laurent , Charles-Adolphe Wurtz and others, Kekulé

1440-561: Was ennobled by the Kaiser in 1895, he adopted the name August Kekule von Stradonitz, without the French acute accent over the second "e". The French accent had apparently been added to the name by Kekulé's father during the Napoleonic occupation of Hesse by France, to ensure that French-speakers pronounced the third syllable. The son of a civil servant, Kekulé was born in Darmstadt , the capital of

1480-527: Was ever found, implying that all six carbons are equivalent, so that substitution on any carbon gives only a single possible product. For diderivatives such as the toluidines , C 6 H 4 (NH 2 )(CH 3 ), three isomers were observed, for which Kekulé proposed structures with the two substituted carbon atoms separated by one, two and three carbon-carbon bonds, later named ortho, meta, and para isomers respectively. The counting of possible isomers for diderivatives was, however, criticized by Albert Ladenburg ,

1520-447: Was granted major autonomy and changed its name accordingly from State University of Ghent ( Dutch : Rijksuniversiteit Gent , abbreviated as RUG ) to its current designation. Ghent was one of the largest and most important cities of Europe in the medieval period. The university in Ghent was opened on 9 October 1817, with JC van Rotterdam as the first rector . The foundation of universities in Ghent, Liege, and Leuven that year – by

1560-449: Was subsequently replaced by the suggestion that valences were fixed at certain oxidation states . For example, periodic acid according to Kekuléan structure theory could be represented by the chain structure I-O-O-O-O-H. By contrast, the modern structure of (meta) periodic acid has all four oxygen atoms surrounding the iodine in a tetrahedral geometry. Kekulé's most famous work was on the structure of benzene . In 1865 Kekulé published

1600-436: Was the principal formulator of the theory of chemical structure (1857–58). This theory proceeds from the idea of atomic valence, especially the tetravalence of carbon (which Kekulé announced late in 1857) and the ability of carbon atoms to link to each other (announced in a paper published in May 1858), to the determination of the bonding order of all of the atoms in a molecule. Archibald Scott Couper independently arrived at

#515484