Wilhelm Haarmann

Who was Wilhelm Haarmann?

Gustav Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm Haarmann was a German chemist and together with Karl Ludwig Reimer and Ferdinand Tiemann founded the Haarmann & Reimer chemical plant for the production of vanillin.

Beginning in 1866, Haarmann studied at the Mining academy Clausthal later he changed to the University of Göttingen. He joined August Wilhelm von Hofmann 1869 at the University of Berlin. He received his Phd in Göttingen 1872. Together with Ferdinand Tiemann, both working with Hoffmann, Harmann founded 1875 Haarmann's Vanillinfabrik, producing vanillin from coniferin. The Reimer-Tiemann reaction discovered by Karl Ludwig Reimer opened an alternative path to vanillin and Reimer joined the company which was renamed to Haarmann & Raimer.

Haarmann & Raimer was bought by the Bayer AG in 1953 and became an independent company again in 2003 under the name Symrise.