The German Chemical Society looks back on a history spanning more than 150 years. From the beginnings of two predecessor organisations in the 19th century, through the new start after the Second World War, to today’s international networking – an overview.

1867, Adolf von Baeyer and others found the German Chemical Society (DChG) in Berlin, with the renowned chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann as its first president. The following year, the society publishes its first scientific journal, “Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft”, which is continued today in the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry and the European Journal of Organic Chemistry.

The second predecessor organisation of today’s GDCh, the Association of German Chemists (VDCh), is founded in 1887. Its membership magazine is the still-existing Angewandte Chemie. While the DChG primarily brings together members from universities, the VDCh focuses on employees in the chemical industry.

The first employment service for chemists is established under the umbrella of the VDCh as early as around 1900. Today, the GDCh Career Service supports jobseekers. At the same time, the first Divisions emerge within the VDCh – sub-organisations that continue to play a major role in shaping the character of the GDCh today. The 50th anniversary of the DChG on 18 April 1918 coincides with the 100th birthday of its founding president, August Wilhelm von Hofmann. The early years of the 20th century also see the establishment of internationally recognised scientific awards, such as the Liebig commemorative coin and the Emil Fischer Medal, which are still awarded today. In 1921, the DChG, VDCh and the predecessor organisation of today’s VCI jointly found Verlag Chemie (VCH), now Wiley-VCH GmbH.

The Nazi era also leaves its mark on the predecessor organisations of the GDCh. This is reflected, among other things, in the so-called “Führer principle”, the dismissal of Jewish employees and incorporation into the NS-Bund Deutscher Technik.

The history of the GDCh’s predecessor societies is later examined in detail by the GDCh. In 2015, the study “Chemists in the Third Reich”, written by the historian of science Helmut Maier on behalf of the GDCh, is published.

After the war, neither the DChG nor the VDCh continued to operate. Instead, both organisations were merged into the German Chemical Society, founded initially in 1946 in the British Zone and in 1949 throughout West Germany. The first Chair and later President of the German Chemical Society was the future Nobel laureate Karl Ziegler. As early as the 1950s, membership exceeded 5,000.

1953 saw the establishment of the Chemical Society in the GDR (CG) in the German Democratic Republic.

In 1958, the German Chemical Society had more than 10,000 members; in 1962, the German Chemical Society office moved to its present headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. While the 1960s were characterised by greater depth in terms of content and subject matter, the 1970s and 1980s saw progress in environmental engagement, including the establishment of the Advisory Committee on Existing Chemicals of Environmental Relevance (BUA), as well as internationalisation.

Following reunification in 1990, the members of the Chemical Society decided to dissolve it with effect from 31 December 1990. Around two-thirds of the Chemical Society’s approximately 4,500 members at the time subsequently joined the German Chemical Society, whose membership had risen to more than 25,000 by 1992.

In the second half of the 1990s, the German Chemical Society initiated the reorganisation of the continental European journal landscape in chemistry. Under the leadership of the German Chemical Society, national journals of European chemical societies were merged into new, joint European journals under the umbrella of ChemPubSocEurope, now Chemistry Europe. This led to the creation of Chemistry - A European Journal and many other highly successful journals.

In 1997 , young members were given a structure within the German Chemical Society with the JungChemikerForum (now JungesChemieForum; JCF).

Together with the Federal Ministry of Research and other chemical organisations, the German Chemical Society coordinated the national “Year of Chemistry” in 2003, marking the 200th anniversary of Justus von Liebig’s birth. In 2006, the Senior Experts Chemistry (SEC) were launched.

With the beginning of the new millennium, international networking activities became increasingly important. The German Chemical Society was one of the leading forces behind the transformation, in 2004, of the former Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS) into the European Association of Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS, now the European Chemical Society), and in 2010 hosted the 3rd EuCheMS Chemistry Congress in Nuremberg, attended by around 2,500 visitors. In 2011, the German Chemical Society played a key role in organising the International Year of Chemistry, proclaimed by the United Nations and the IUPAC.

The international focus continued to develop in the following years. Further European journals were established, including ChemistryOpen in 2011, the first fully open-access society journal. Cooperation with EuCheMS and the IUPAC was expanded. In 2013, the German Chemical Society exceeded 30,000 members for the first time.

In 2017, the German Chemical Society celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the German Chemical Society, the older of its two predecessor organisations, and in 2024 the German Chemical Society itself turned 75.

In the 2020s, cooperation with partner scientific societies in Germany and abroad continued to expand. Under Science Connects, the five major mathematical and natural science societies joined forces (alongside the German Chemical Society, the societies for geosciences (DVGeo), mathematics (DMV), physics (DPG) and biology (VBIO)). They publish joint press releases, statements and position papers, and hold parliamentary evenings in Berlin. Topics addressed include climate change, sustainability and artificial intelligence.