Karl Weltzien

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Karl Weltzien
Weltzien Palace in Karlsruhe

Karl Weltzien (also Carl , born February 8, 1813 in Saint Petersburg , † November 14, 1870 in Karlsruhe ) was a German chemist .

Life

Karl Weltzien was born on February 8, 1813 in St. Petersburg as the only son of the merchant Karl Weltzien († 1849). There he attended St. Petri School, founded in 1709 as a school by the Lutheran congregation. In 1823 the parents moved to Karlsruhe. Karl attended the Lyceum here and began studying medicine at Heidelberg University in 1831 . In 1833 he switched to Friedrich Wöhler in Göttingen , and then returned to Heidelberg for the winter semester of 1834/35. In April 1835 he completed his studies with a doctorate, and married a year later. In 1840 Weltzien went to Berlin as a kind of guest scientist (today "post doc") to Eilhard Mitscherlich . Weltzien has been a member of the Corps Suevia Heidelberg since his studies in Heidelberg .

In 1841 he was given the right to teach chemistry at the Karlsruhe Lyceum and at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic , where he held lectures on agricultural chemistry for prospective foresters. In 1843 he received the title of professor, in 1844 he was appointed to the chair for pure chemistry at the Polytechnic.

In the 1860s he suffered from an unspecified skin disease which resulted in nerve damage and paralysis. Despite several spa stays, he was retired at the beginning of 1868. The chair for pure chemistry was administered by the technologist Karl Birnbaum for a year , and Lothar Meyer took over the chair at the end of 1868 .

Weltzien died on November 14, 1870 and he was buried in the main cemetery in Karlsruhe.

He was a member of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors .

In Karlsruhe a street in the western part of the city ​​is named after him.

Services

Chemical laboratory at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic, built in 1851, expanded in 1857/1875; Photo taken around 1900

Karl Weltzien founded scientific chemistry at the Polytechnic School in Karlsruhe, founded in 1825. His predecessor Friedrich August Walchner saw chemistry only as an auxiliary science, its importance was correspondingly low. In 1850 he was replaced (against his will) by the appointment of Karl Weltzien , who had been an associate professor at the forestry school since 1842 .

Even before his appointment as full professor , Weltzien urged the construction of a modern laboratory. Weltzien set up a laboratory in his parents' house on Karlstrasse, where he initially gave practical lessons to the students. He combined the acceptance of the call with the condition of a new building of the chemical laboratory at the polytechnic school. A corresponding building was erected in 1851, which had to be expanded in 1857.

Thanks to Weltzien, chemistry in Karlsruhe achieved international renown. In 1860 it became the venue for the first international chemists' congress ( Karlsruhe Congress ), which was initiated by Weltzien, Charles Adolphe Wurtz and Kekulé . 140 participants from all over the world accepted the invitation.

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl Weltzien  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 67 , 249
  2. ↑ 40 years of the CTI in 1892 , page LXXII.
  3. ↑ Members of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors 1857
  4. ^ Margit Szöllösi-Janze in Fritz Haber, 1868-1934: A biography . P. 102 Publisher: CH Beck, 1998, ISBN 3-406-43548-3 ( Google Books)
personal data
SURNAME Weltzien, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weltzien, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1870
Place of death Karlsruhe