Two copies of a group photograph depicting students and faculty of the Physical Chemistry Institute at the University of Leipzig.

In the front row, 4th from the left is Yukichi Osaka (1866-1950). Osaka was a Japanese physical chemist known for being a pioneer in his field and an avid supporter of the advancement of modern science in Japan.

In the front row, 7th from the right is Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932). Ostwald was a German chemist and philosopher. In 1909, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on catalysis and for his investigations into the fundamental principles governing chemical equilibria and rates of reaction.

Behind Ostwald is Georg Bredig (1868-1944). Georg Bredig was a German physical chemist known for his work with catalysts, reaction kinetics, and electrochemistry. In 1898 he created Bredig's Arc method, which became the preferred chemical method for preparing colloidal solutions of metals. Bredig studied with a number of notable scientists including Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932), Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff (1852-1911), and Marcellin Berthelot (1827-1907), and Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927). He taught at the Technische Hochschule, Karlsruhe from 1911 until he was forced to resign in 1933 when the National Socialist party banned Jewish people from holding academic positions. In 1940 Bredig left Germany for the Netherlands and ultimately emigrated to the United States.