On March 23, 1856, in the history of the original timeline, William Henry Perkin had accidentally synthesized mauveine during an experiment, ushering in a new era for the dye industry.
But in this life, William Henry Perkin had never encountered August Wilhelm von Hofmann, the teacher who predicted the emergence of mauveine. Nor had anyone left him with the task of synthesizing quinine from coal tar.
It could be said that much of William Henry Perkin's greatness was owed to this excellent teacher of his.
According to the original history, August Wilhelm von Hofmann should have caught Prince Albert's eye with his outstanding talent in 1845 and been invited to establish the Royal College of Chemistry.
August Wilhelm von Hofmann had not been particularly famous in history. Franz had never heard of him in his previous life, so naturally he could not have recruited him in advance.
But August Wilhelm von Hofmann had studied under Liebig. Once Liebig accepted Franz's invitation, August Wilhelm von Hofmann followed his teacher to Vienna.
Hofmann's prediction regarding synthetic dyes might have seemed insignificant to others. Especially in this life, when the Austrian Empire had no shortage of sources for natural dyes, his theory naturally drew even less interest.
But Franz was different. He knew perfectly well what synthetic dyes represented.
Franz immediately allocated funds to Hofmann and had him form his own team. Hofmann was extremely capable—otherwise, in the original history, Prince Albert would not have appointed him director of the Royal College of Chemistry immediately after his university graduation.
Moreover, the Austrian officialdom and academic circles had long grown accustomed to Franz doing as he pleased, so his actions stirred no waves at all.
However, after Franz's persuasion, Hofmann temporarily abandoned the idea of artificially synthesizing quinine. On one hand, the prerequisite technologies