Netherlands Dutch Chemical Society

THE NETHERLANDS Keeping the Ranks Closed The Dutch Chemical Society, 1903-1914... 

In this chapter I will try to explain why the creation of the Dutch chemical society occurred relatively late, and why it took on a hybrid character from the start. We will show that the founding of the NCV was the result of a carefully negotiated equilibrium between different groups of chemists, and also that initial opposition within academic circles had to be overcome. In order to understand these peculiarities of the Dutch case, it is important to first tell more about the institutional and social development of chemistry in the Netherlands up to 1903. In the course of this historical sketch the mutual relations and conflicts between the different groups of chemical practitioners will become clear, and also why the NCV was not founded earlier. 

Why was the Dutch Chemical Society founded relatively late, and how can we explain the hybrid nature of the society These were the questions posed at the start of this chapter. I hope to have shown that there were several reasons for the late establishment of the NCV. In the first place, there was an extensive network of local scientific societies in the Netherlands that also paid attention to chemistry. This made it less urgent for academic chemists to found a national discipline-oriented society. Secondly, the Netherlands did not have a dominant metropolitan centre, and therefore there was no town whose local chemical society could develop into a national one. The fact that there were also tensions between the Amsterdam chemical school and the Leiden school was an extra reason why the initiative for a national society could not come from academic circles. The third, and final, reason for the late emergence of the NCV was the relatively late industrialization of the Netherlands, and the late expansion of applied chemical research. Only in the 1890s, when agricultural experimental stations and analytical laboratories flourished, and the number of chemical engineers grew rapidly, were the conditions fulfilled for the establishment of a profession-oriented chemical society. 

J. J. F. Scholten, ed., A Short History of the Dutch School of Catalysis, Royal Netherlands Chemical Society, The Hague, 1994. 

When we try to summarize the social situation of Dutch chemistry around 1840, the time when the Chemical Society of London was founded, it is important to note that of the two groups which played the crucial role in the case of the London soeiety professional chemical analysts and consultants, and younger academics the first one was almost non-existent in the Netherlands, and the seeond one was tiny. The Dutch chemical industry was too small for a career in eonsultaney, and the absence of government regulations in the field of food eontrol and sanitation led to the same result. Also prospects for chemistry teaehing in the Netherlands were lacking, until a school reform in 1863 dramatically changed the situation. 

The Netherlands population density, its intense level of economic activity, geographical location, open society and role as an international trading nation may make it more vulnerable in future than some European directives assume. For example, the chemicals and petro-chemicals industries are very important to the Dutch economy, while areas in which those industries operate are in fact becoming much more built up (Adviesraad Gevaarlijke Stoffen 2011). That raises specific safety questions for the Netherlands. 

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