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[–] 12 points 2 years ago (3 children)

According to Material History Review (Fall 1994) it was discovered in 1876 by Adolf Kussmaul. No clue who first used it in food, corporations weren't big fans of telling us what was in food back then.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    I just found out minutes before I posted my comment someone added this information to the Wikipedia page lol.

    Edit: huh, wait. Material History Review just says "Kussmaul (1876)", are we sure it was Adolf Kussmaul? He was a physician, not a chemist. And it doesn't reference any sources either... Was record keeping that bad back then?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    Aye, there's a pattern of breathing named after him. In respect to the possibility of him being its 'discoverer,' there was a greater demand on physicians to be more than medicine dispensers back then. While these days you have a pretty clear divide between MDs that treat patients and MDs that do research, it wouldn't surprise me if a physician in the late 19th century was formulating his own medications to test, and might have a hobby of experimenting with materials that didn't pan out as medication.

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