Director at the Carlsberg 5 Laboratorium In 1910 Johannes Schmidt replaced Emil Chr. Hansen as director of the Carlsberg Laboratory. (…) This was an act of treason against The Brewer, what they let happen, with regards to management, was a total failure of leadership.1 Laboratory legacy ‘Treason’ was the verdict in 2011, when the outgoing chairman of the Board of Directors of the Carlsberg Foundation, chairman of the Carls- berg Laboratory, and professor of medicinal chemistry, Povl Krogsgaard-­ Larsen commented on his predecessors’ decision to hire Johannes Schmidt. Krogsgaard-Larsen expressed this view in an autobiography, looking back and taking stock of his nine years (2003–2011) at the helm of the Carlsberg conglomerate of science funds and global businesses, established by ‘The Brewer’, I. C. Jacobsen. In addition, he had been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carlsberg Laboratory for close to two decades from 1993–2011. Within the Carlsberg Foundation Schmidt’s legacy has been com- plicated. Johannes Schmidt is a celebrated and famous scientist within marine science circles. Yet now, more than 100 years after he was first appointed director of the Physiological Department of the Carlsberg Laboratory, Johannes Schmidt is nothing short of infamous in Carlsberg circles. Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen conducted his own inquiry into this topic, as he found it odd that an accomplished marine scientist such as Schmidt would suddenly switch to beer related research. Krogs­gaard- 1 Bjerager A. Bryggerens Larsen cites a critical commentary from Professor P. Boysen Jensen Lærling. Povl Krogsgaard-­ (1883–1959), who in 1933 complained to the Board of Trustees of the Larsens erindringer. Gylling, Denmark: Gyldendal; 2011: Carlsberg Laboratory that they had appointed Professor Øjvind Winge, 235–236. of the Veterinary and Agricultural University as Schmidt’s successor. director at the carlsberg laboratorium 139 Here, according to Krogsgaard-Larsen, Boysen Jensen laments the de- cision to hire Schmidt back in 1910, as Schmidt had possessed very few qualifications for the job. Subsequently, Schmidt had turned the Carls- berg Laboratory into a zoological museum, as Krogsgaard-Larsen put it. Krogsgaard-Larsen further referred to the 1976 anniversary volume on the Carlsberg Laboratory, where the editor, Heinz Holter cautiously remarked that the steady inflow of money from the brewery had al- lowed the laboratory researchers to assume a ‘very liberal interpreta- tion’ of their raison d’être. In Krogsgaard-Larsen’s opinion, the founding brewer, I. C. Jacobsen would never have accepted that employees of the Carlsberg Laboratory would ‘study the wanderings of the eel in remote oceans,’ when in charge of research at a laboratory, where the focus should adhere to the guiding principles of the laboratory statutes, namely the promotion of research to enhance the quality of beer.2 Trying to explain the appointment of Schmidt, Krogsgaard-Larsen noted that Johannes Schmidt had married the daughter of the first CEO of the Gammel Carlsberg Brewery, Søren A. van der Aa Kühle. ‘One gets an ugly sense of nepotism,’ was Krogsgaard-Larsen’s conclusion.3 Such a harsh and direct critique is quite rare, when it comes to events taking place close to a hundred years ago, and it is worth men- tioning that Krogsgaard-Larsen openly connected his commentary on Schmidt to his own attempt to steer the research of the Carlsberg Lab- oratory in a more focused direction that concentrated on beer relevant issues. Krogsgaard-Larsen had fought for this – and succeeded, during a process lasting a decade, where clashes between a majority on the Board of Trustees and the researchers in the laboratory had been, in his own words; ‘very intense.’4 No doubt the seemingly blatant delinquency of Johannes Schmidt was used as a symbol of a direction the laboratory 2 Bjerager A. Bryggerens should steer clear of. Nonetheless, he could be right. Was Schmidt’s Lærling. Povl Krogsgaard-­ more than 22 years long term at the Carlsberg Laboratory a mere scam Larsens erindringer. Gylling, for the pursuit of marine science? Denmark: Gyldendal; 2011: 235–234–237. Previously, other commentators on Schmidt’s career have mentioned 3 Bjerager A. Bryggerens that a whiff of nepotism had tainted the sweet scents of beer brewing Lærling. Povl Krogsgaard-­ Larsens erindringer. Gylling, on the Carlsberg premises. Among chroniclers of Schmidt’s accomplish- Denmark: Gyldendal; 2011: ments as a marine scientist, his connections with the Carlsberg social 235–236. 4 Bjerager A. Bryggerens circles are mentioned in passing as well. Tom Fort presents an implicit Lærling. Povl Krogsgaard-­ causation when stating in one sentence: ‘In 1903 he had married Inge- Larsens erindringer. Gylling, Denmark: Gyldendal; 2011: borg Kühle, daughter of the chief director of the Carlsberg Brewery, and 237–241. seven years later he was appointed director of the prestigious physio- 140 chapter 5 .