Member of Merit
Prof. Ernst Homburg
During the General Members' Meeting on 9 June 2020, the KNCV appointed Prof. Ernst Homburg as Member of Merit.
Ernst Homburg has been a member of the KNCV since 1974. Ernst has been involved as a board member since the Chemistry History Group (CHG) was formally established in 1999. He was chair from 1999 to 2009, secretary from 2009 to 2018, and has been chair and secretary since 2018.
Trained as a chemist and specialising as a chemistry historian, he has demonstrated like no other how chemistry has been practised throughout the centuries and what impact this has had on society.
It was precisely because of his background as both a chemist and a historian that he was able to place chemical developments in a long-term perspective: the intertwining and sometimes disentangling of science and industry, the blessings and sometimes the curse of innovations, the mutual influence of chemistry and society. Ernst's work covers many fields and periods. He wrote and spoke about DSM and lead white, about Peter Debye and “popular chemistry”, about alchemy and the dye industry – always with the same passion. He not only worked at an academic level of international stature (Ernst recently won the HIST Award from the American Chemical Society), but also addressed a wide audience, both verbally, as a speaker for all kinds of groups, and in writing. No one can ignore his infectious enthusiasm.
Moreover, Ernst combines skill in his own research with leadership in the field. In addition to his many years as chair of the CHG of the KNCV, he is now the driving force behind the National Chemical Heritage Programme. He has organised dozens of conferences and symposia and has often spoken at conferences for school teachers. He has encouraged chemistry historians both within and outside the university and has supervised many (often external) PhD students. He has chaired the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry as well as the Limburg Historical Society. In addition, he has worked hard to promote cooperation with other historical groups.
In 2002, Ernst Homburg was also appointed Special Professor in the context of the special chair in History of Science and Technology and their Interrelationships, established at Maastricht University by the Foundation for the History of Technology.
