ALFRED SCHAEFFER E SUAS CONTRIBUIÇÕES PARA A QUÍMICA

ALFRED SCHAEFFER AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO CHEMISTRY

Alfred Schaeffer (1879-1957) was a German chemist who arrived in Minas Gerais in 1911 hired by the state government to organize the state health service in its newly established capital. He directed the Laboratory of Chemical Analysis of the State, and his analytical methods in dairy and mineral waters became a reference in Brazil. He also became professor of Chemistry at the new Faculty of Medicine of Belo Horizonte and founded the Chemistry Institute of the Engineering School in that city, influencing several students who became important names in Brazilian science. In addition, he was responsible for the assembly and technical coordination of pioneering industries in the dairy and wood distillation sector in the city of Santos Dumont. Later he assumed the post of technical director of Merck, also in Minas Gerais. Moving to Rio de Janeiro, he assumed a chair at the Technical School, working in teaching and research, and remained active even after retiring, publishing in important scientific journals.