Ivan Levinstein

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Ivan Levinstein c.1898 Ivan Levinstein.jpg
Ivan Levinstein c.1898

Ivan Levinstein (1845-1916) was a German-born British chemist who pioneered the manufacture of synthetic dyes and helped develop the British chemical industry in the late nineteenth century. He was born in Charlottenburg, Germany, the son of a Berlin Calico manufacturer, studied chemistry at the Gewerbeinstitut, which later became Technische Universität Berlin, before joining the family business. He obtained his first patent in Germany in 1863 for improvements in manufacturing coal tar dyes. [1]

In 1864 he moved to Blackley, Manchester to start his own chemical manufacturing business. As the business grew it moved to larger premises in Crumpsall, Manchester, in 1887. [1] He developed Rosaline, an artificial magenta dye, Blackley blue dye, Manchester Brown and Manchester Yellow dyes and red azo dyes.

He also acted as a spokesperson for the British chemical industry, expressing concerns about growing German competitiveness. He founded, in 1871, the Chemical Review, in 1881 was a founder of the Manchester Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, later following Henry Roscoe as Chair of the Section. [1] He also served as President of the Society of Chemical Industry between 1901 and 1903 and was a founder member of the Society of Dyers and Colourists in 1884. [2] [3] [4]

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Levinstein Ltd was an important Manchester based British dye-making company founded by Ivan Levinstein (1845-1916). In 1918 the firm became part of British Dyestuffs Corporation which in turn formed part of Imperial Chemical Industries in 1926. The firm had operations in Salford, Hulton House in Blackley, and during World War I a sequestered German-owned plant in Ellesmere Port. The firm made the successful Blackley blue or Coomassie brilliant blue, a Manchester Brown, a Manchester Yellow dye and during WWI chemicals for military purposes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Manchester Faces & Places (Vol X, No 2 ed.). London & Manchester: JG Hammond & Co Ltd. November 1898. pp. 21–23.
  2. Levinstein Ltd., 1890-1919. ICI Dyestuffs Division and predecessor companies archive. University of Manchester Library. GB 133 ICI/8
  3. Travis, Anthony S. (2011)Heinrich Caro and Ivan Levinstein in Homburg, Ernst, Anthony S. Travis, and Harm G. Schröter. (2011). The Chemical Industry in Europe, 1850-1914: Industrial growth, pollution and professionalization. Dordrecht: Springer.
  4. https://www.soci.org/about-us/history/notable-scientists-and-inventors Society of Chemical Industry: notable-scientists-and-inventors - Ivan Levinstein

Other sources

Wyler, M. (1937) Ivan Levinstein - What I Know of Him (Manchester, 1937), reprinted in Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, SS (1939), 142-146.