Victor Gustav Bloede (chemist) - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Bloede was born in 1849, in Dresden, Germany, the son of Marie Franziska (née Jungnitz) Bloede and Gustavas "Gustav" Bloede. Gustav was a physician and member of the city council of Dresden during the German revolutions. Gustav had to flee Germany and made his way to Antwerp where he waited for his family to arrive. The family (Marie, Gustav, and their three children, Gertrude, Kate and Victor) sailed from Antwerp on July 14, 1850, aboard the Julia Howard, arriving in New York on August 21. Upon coming to the United States, Gustav Bloede served as a surgeon in the American Civil War. After the war the family settled in Brooklyn, New York. The cultured Bloede home became a salon, which attracted such 19th century figures as Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Victor received the groundwork of his education in public school and by the age of 12 he began to support himself by working as an office boy and earned the means to pursue his studies. While working by day he studied at night at the Cooper Institute in New York City.

His mother, Marie Bloede was his chief inspiration, guiding, encouraging, and strengthening his growth. His family was one of marked culture, not only had his father distinguished himself by work in natural sciences, but on his mother’s side as well, two uncles had been prominent in literature and politics. Like his father Victor also became interested in natural science as he studied at Cooper Institute, and he graduated in 1867, earning a chemical engineering degree at the age of 18. His class was the first at the institute to receive diplomas for the chemical engineering course. He was also privileged to have been a personal acquaintance of the great Industrialist, Inventor, philanthropist and founder of the institution, Peter Cooper, whose example and teachings were strongly influential in molding Victors character and in his life work.