Royal Netherlands Chemical Society

In the years of 1896 and 1897, two Dutch chemists Willem Paulinus Jorissen and Johannes Rutten made plans to found an Association of Dutch Chemists. Rutten (1873-1946) had obtained the degree of technologist at the Polytechnic School in Delft (now Delft University of Technology) in 1896 and was appointed chemist at the former Central Guanofabrieken (now AkzoNobel) at Kralingseveer in Rotterdam. Jorissen obtained his PhD degree at the University of Amsterdam on 21 oktober 1896 with Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom as supervisor. Rutten and Jorissen became friends and discussed the possibilities of organizing the Dutch chemists. There were already chemical associations in neighboring countries for a long time: the Chemical Society in London was founded in 1841, the Société chimique de France in 1857, the Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft zu Berlin in 1867 and the American Chemical Society in 1876. Denmark followed in 1879, Sweden in 1883, Finland in 1891 and Norway in 1893, while the Société Chimique de Belge was established in Brussels in 1887.

In order to successfully establish a Dutch chemical association, it was first of all necessary to find out whether a sufficient number of members could be counted on. Following the medical yearbook for the Netherlands published since 1882, the two friends published a chemical yearbook in 1898 that contained an address list of Dutch chemists at home and abroad. The editors consisted of Jorissen, Rutten, the Amsterdam pharmacist and chemist Bernardus Adrianus van Ketel (1862-1928), H.C. Prinsen Geerligs (born 1864), director of the sugar cane testing station in Kagok, Tegal (Java), and Dr. Lodewijk Theodorus Reicher (1857-1943), chemical mechanic at the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam and chief of the associated chemical laboratory. The second volume appeared in 1901; the third in 1902. The editorial board was expanded with Dr. Albert Jacques Joseph van de Velde (1871-1956), director of the city laboratory in Ghent. The title therefore became: Scheikundig Jaarboekje voor Nederland, België en Nederlands Indië (English: Chemical Yearbook for the Netherlands, Belgium and the Dutch East Indies). In the meantime, the Journal of Applied Chemistry and Hygiene was founded in 1897 of which Jorissen became co-editor. The chemical yearbook and the journal would play a major role in the founding of the Dutch Chemical Association.

The society was founded on 15 April 1903 as the "Algemene Nederlandsche Chemische Vereeniging" (English: General Netherlands Chemical Society), and renamed on 4 July of the same year as "Nederlandsche Chemische Vereeniging" (English: Netherlands Chemical Society). At the jubilee of 1953, the organisation was granted a Royal Charter (with the designation "Koninklijke") by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and thereby became the "Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging" (English: Royal Netherlands Chemical Society).