Talk:Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp

Questionable lead sentence

Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp (30 October 1817 – 20 February 1892), German chemist, was born at Hanau, where his father, Johann Heinrich Kopp (1777–1858), a physician, was professor of chemistry, physics and natural history at the local lyceum.

When you strip that down:

Hermann Kopp was born at Hanau.

A great lead sentence, I suppose, if the reader was also born at Hanau, or its greater catchment area of divine legend. — MaxEnt 14:22, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

Another roundabout in the lead

In 1843–1847 he published a comprehensive History of Chemistry, in four volumes, to which three supplements were added in 1869–1875. The Development of Chemistry in Recent Times appeared in 1871–1874, and in 1886 he published a work in two volumes on Alchemy in Ancient and Modern Times.

"Appeared" is a peculiar verb construct—with magic passive overtones—which seems to have been used here mainly in service of elegant variation in the grammatical texture.

But then you put your thinking cap on, and you drill down to the brass tacks of whether this lead asserts that Kopp authored The Development of Chemistry (in whole or in part) and you must honestly confess that this article—as presently written—certainly does not. — MaxEnt 14:29, 8 March 2019 (UTC)