Sir William Henry Perkin, English chemist, with colleagues, c 1870

Sir William Henry Perkin, English chemist, with colleagues, c 1870. Perkin (1838-1907) and his colleagues at the dyestuffs firm of Perkin & Sons, probably taken next to the Greenford Green factory: Perkin (second from the right), his brother Thomas Dix Perkin (second from the left). The chemists were Mr Stocks (far left), Robert Williamson (centre) and James Thomas Brown (far right). In 1856, whilst attempting to synthesise quinine for the treatment of malaria, Perkin managed to extract a brilliant purple dye, subsequently named mauveine. His manufacture of this and other aniline dyes was a great commercial success and he went on to create the modern synthetic dyestuffs industry and introduce a new range of colours into human life. Group portrait from a collection of 19 photographs relating to Perkin, his relations, and the synthetic dyestuffs industry. Photographie. ©SSPL/Science Museum