BULLETIN FOR THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
Volume 50, 2025
Damiani, Ernesto, “Robert Bunsen's Forgotten Wedding: Anecdote, Absent-Mindedness and the Origins of a Scientific Archetype,”Bull. Hist. Chem., 2025, 50, 107-113.
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2025v050p107
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Abstract/Description: Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, a pioneering 19th-century chemist, made foundational contributions to spectroscopy, chemical analysis, and laboratory methodology. Alongside his scientific achievements, Bunsen became emblematic of the "absent-minded scientist"—a figure whose intellectual absorption seemingly eclipsed everyday concerns. This paper examines the numerous anecdotes that circulated about his eccentricities, ranging from humorous lapses in social etiquette to striking displays of forgetfulness. The most enduring tale recounts how Bunsen allegedly forgot his own wedding day—a story that gained wide currency and was notably cited by Sigmund Freud, who referred only to an unnamed German chemist. Although no previous author appears to have explicitly identified Bunsen as the subject of Freud's anecdote, the present study offers evidence supporting this attribution. While many of these stories may be apocryphal, their persistence underscores how anecdotal memory shapes public perceptions of scientists, rendering their brilliance both more accessible and more mythologized.