We examine the founding of the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry, the organization that sets standards for names of elements and compounds, starting with the first international chemical congress at Karlsruhe, Germany, the 1892 Geneva Rules, a 1911 International Association of Chemical Societies, and finally the IUPAC founded in 1919. We look at some of the controversies over committees trying formulate rules for naming compounds, and what and where exactly the IUPAC is.

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