Due Credit for Arthur Eichengrün

This reading concerns the removal of Arthur Eichengrün's name from the story of aspirin by the Nazi regime in Germany during the 1930s. The lesson concerning the ills of racism should be fairly obvious. Less obvious will be how Germany or any other country suffers when it refuses to let certain people make their contributions to society. Germany suffered because it refused to let Jewish scientists work, and denied itself the benefits of their discoveries. Eichengrün's story can serve as a model for how the whole world has been shortchanged by historically denying women and people of particular ethnic groups participation in science. Students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences should take away the very practical lesson that they have the ability to pursue careers in science even though they may have been traditionally excluded from such careers.

Another less obvious lesson concerns the nature of invention. Few inventions are the fruit of a single person's efforts. But Felix Hoffmann is usually credited as THE inventor of aspirin. This reading illustrates the cooperative nature of invention.

Relevant National Science Education Standards

History and Nature of Science — The reading explores how attitudes of people in the past have determined who received credit for scientific work and who did not, and how human attitudes can hinder the progress of science by denying certain people the right to work in scientific fields.