Sibrandus Stratingh (1785-1841)
You are now standing in front of the former residence of Sibrandus Stratingh.
Stratingh was born in Adorp in 1785, but grew up in Groningen. From the age of thirteen he attended lectures at the university. He soon abandoned his plan to succeed his uncle as pharmacist as he was so taken with physics and chemistry that he wanted to devote his life to science. In 1824, Stratingh became professor of general, applied and pharmaceutical chemistry.
At the time, he was living in this building at the Ossenmarkt. The square was part of a large seventeenth-century city expansion. Distinguished families had stately homes built around the new market square. Stratingh’s spacious house was completed in 1624 and is therefore one of the oldest buildings on the square. It is easily recognizable by its distinctive Renaissance style. The text on the gable reads: “He who trusts in God has built well” (“Hij heeft wel gebout, die op Godt vertrout”).
In a laboratory in his backyard, Stratingh experimented with new technologies. In 1834, this led to the construction of a steam-driven vehicle. Stratingh made several test runs through Groningen, and even a trip to De Punt, in Drenthe – a route of about 15 kilometres. This was five years before the steam train in the Netherlands made its first trip!
Yet Stratingh was not satisfied. The steam-driven vehicle made lots of noise and emitted foul smells. Instead, Stratingh began to focus on another source of power: electricity. In 1835, he built a small electric vehicle, known today as “Stratingh’s cart”. This model consisted of a plank with three wheels. On top was an electric motor that drove the rear wheels. The model could only drive for 20 minutes on a full battery, but it showed that electric propulsion was possible. In a way, it was the world’s first electric car! Unfortunately, it could not be built on a large scale. The technology at the time did not allow for the construction of large batteries and electric motors.
