Can you find some biographical information concerning an organic
chemist who lived during the 19th century? His last name is
"Dieckmann." There is a famous organic reaction named after him, a
reaction called "intramolecular condensation," or the Dieckmann
Condensation. I would also like to obtain a picture of him. Can you
help?

Dear organicman:

Thank you for your question. I'm sorry to say that I could not find
very much biographical information on Dieckmann. I have only found his
full name and basic birth/death and geographic data. However, there is
an external biographical reference where you may find more info on
him.  Also (0very surprisingly!) I was able to pull up a picture of
him. Here's what little biographical information I could find:

Walter Dieckmann
8 October 1869 - 12 January 1925 
German, b. Hamburg, Germany 

Biographical Reference:

Jones, Maitland Jr. Organic Chemistry, W.W. Norton & Co.: New York,
1997
Willstatter, R., Chem. Ber.
1925, 58A, 7

Source: http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:jaxYdhtgyRIC:www.chem.yorku.ca/NAMED/PDF-FILES/Reactions-A-D.pdf+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

PDF File: http://www.chem.yorku.ca/NAMED/PDF-FILES/Reactions-A-D.pdf

Related: http://www.chem.yorku.ca/NAMED/

And here is the location of his picture:
http://www.chem.yale.edu/~chem125/125/history/Baeyer/Dieckman.JPG

Which is taken from this page:
http://www.chem.yale.edu/~chem125/125/history/Baeyer/strain.html

Google Search Strategy:

"walter dieckmann" chem OR chemistry OR chemist
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=%22walter+dieckmann%22+chem+OR+chemistry+OR+chemist

If you need any clarifications, please don't hesitate to ask. I would
be more than happy to assist you further.

Best Regards,
blader-ga

When carrying out the Dieckmann Condensation, be sure to add your
potassium tert-butoxide very very very slowly, or your yield will be
terribly small.  A good yield with this reaction is about 40%.

Enjoy