Saint Barbara

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (1835-1917) was hom in Germany. He discovered barbituric acid—the first of a group of sedatives known as barbiturates— in 1864 and named it after a woman named Barbara. Who Barbara was is not certain. Some say she was his girlfriend, but because Baeyer discovered barbituric acid in the same year that Prussia defeated Denmark, some believe he named the acid after Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillerymen. Baeyer was the first to synthesize indigo, the dye used in the manufacture of blue jeans. He was a professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg and later at the University of Munich. He received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1905 for his work in synthetic organic chemistry. 

Archaic ideas that women in tunnels lead to misfortune have resulted in the fact that until only recently no women were employed for tunnel construction work. The only woman who was welcomed, and ardently worshiped up to today, independently of religious denomination, is Saint Barbara, patron saint of tunnel workers, mining, and miners. Also during the ten year period of the building of the Gotthard tunnel, Holy Mass and traditional celebrations of Saint Barbara s Day were held each year on December 4th, attended by all of the miners as well as by all men and women in Airolo and Goschenen that were indirectly involved in the building of the tunnel. 

Catalysis Center for Molecular Engineering, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Taejon, Korea Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA Institut Lavoisier, UMR CNRS 173, Universite de Versailles Saint Quentin, Versailles, France... 

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