Andreas Marggraf
Sugar and Science
It’s the anniversary of the death of Andreas Marggraf, who died on this day in 1782.
Marggraf was a German chemist. In 1747, he figured out a way to isolate glucose from raisins.
That same year, he announced his discovery of finding sugar in beets, and he came up with a way to use alcohol to extract it.
Marggraf’s discovery was not used commercially while he was alive. It wasn’t until 1802 that the first beat sugar refinery opened its doors... and the modern sugar industry was born.