In hmolscience, Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918) was a Bosnian Serbian and member of the terrorist organization Black Hand who at the age of nineteen, sometime shortly before 11AM on June 28, 1914, shot and killed Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an act which set off a chain reaction resulting in WWI and WWII, embroiling nearly the entire world, at the end of which, in 1945, thirty-one years later, 100 million casualties resulted. [1]
Human catalyst
American chemical engineer Scott Fogler, in his 1992 Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, argues that a person who starts a riot and then ducks out before things get violent would be an example of a human catalyst: [2]
“A catalyst is a substance that affects the rate of a reaction but emerges from the process unchanged. A man inciting a mob to riot and then ducking out before the tanks roll in can be regarded as a catalyst.”
In this sense, we might be inclined to think of Princip as the catalyst to the followup coupled reactions of the WWI reaction and the WWII reaction. A catalyst, however, in a typical sense, is considered as something that emerges from the process unchanged. Princip was, however, was captured and died four years later in prison.
Quotes
The following are related quotes:
“There is no need to carry me to another prison. My life is already ebbing away. I suggest that you nail me to a cross and burn me alive. My flaming body will be a torch to light my people on their path to freedom.”
— Gavrilo Princip (1914), said to prison warden on being moved to another prison (ΡΊ)
See also
β War thermodynamics
β Tipping point
References
1. (a) Buchanan, Mark. (2000). Ubiquity: Why Catastrophies Happen (pg. 3). Three Rivers Press.
(b) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One) (Gavrilo Princip, pg. 62). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
(c) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume Two). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
2. (a) Fogler, H. Scott. (1992). Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering (catalyst, pg. 242). Prentice Hall.
(b) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One) (Fogler, human catalyst, pg. 94). (preview), (Google books). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
External links
β Gavrilo Princip – Wikipedia.
