Emil Zsigmondy

Emil Zsigmondy

Emil Zsigmondy (born 11 August 1861 in Vienna, died 6 August 1885 in Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans, on the south face of the Meije) was an Austrian physician and mountaineer.

Zsigmondy's grave (left) in the cemetery of Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans.

Life

Emil Zsigmondy was the second of the four sons of Dr. Adolf Zsigmondy of Pressburg (Bratislava), a dentist of Hungarian origin, and Irma von Szakmáry, a poet from Martonvásár. He was an excellent alpinist, the first man to climb new routes. He was the friend and companion of Ludwig Purtscheller, the great pioneer of guideless Alpine climbing. Emil Zsigmondy's outstanding achievements include the first ascent by the east arête of the 3,983 metres (13,068 ft) high Meije in the Massif des Écrins range, made by Zsigmondy, his brother Otto, and Ludwig Purtscheller on 26 July 1885. A few days later he died on the same mountain. He was killed in an attempt to climb the south face of the Meije on 6 August 1885, probably as a result of his rope slipping off a rock. The face was only conquered in 1912 by the South Tyrolese climbers Angelo Dibona and Luigi Rizzi with the brothers Guido and Max Mayer. Emil Zsigmondy's grave is a few miles away from the accident site in the small cemetery of Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans in the Dauphiné Alps. He had graduated as a doctor of medicine less than a year before his death.

Zsigmondy is commemorated by the Zsigmondyspitze in the Zillertal Alps, the Brèche Zsigmondy on the Meije (part of the route followed on the successful July 1885 climb), and the Zsigmondyhütte (Rifugio Zsigmondy Comici) in the Sexten Dolomites.

His older brother, Otto, a dentist by profession, was also known as a mountaineer. His younger brother, Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, was a chemist and in 1925 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The youngest of the four brothers, Karl Zsigmondy, was a mathematician; in number theory, Zsigmondy's theorem is named after him. He was a cousin of the architect Frigyes Schulek, whose mother was Auguszta Zsigmondy.

The brothers Otto (left) and Emil Zsigmondy in 1880

Ascents

• 1879 - Ascent of Feldkopf (3,080 metres (10,100 ft), Zillertal) with Otto Zsigmondy, 25 July
• 1884 - First traverse of the Marmolada, of the Punta Rocca (3,309 metres (10,856 ft)) to the Punta Penia (3,342 metres (10,965 ft)) with Otto Zsigmondy and Ludwig Purtscheller
• 1884 - First ascent sans guide of Monte Civetta with Otto Zsigmondy, 5 August
• 1884 - First route of the southwest face of the Croda di Trafoi (Ortler) with Otto Zsigmondy, G. Geyer and J. Prohaska, 23 August
• 1884 - First ascent of the south face of the Bietschhorn with Otto Zsigmondy, Ludwig Purtscheller and Karl Schutz, 2 September
• 1885 - Ascent of Bec de l'Homme (3,454 metres (11,332 ft), Massif des Écrins) with Otto Zsigmondy, Ludwig Purtscheller and Karl Schulz
• 1885 - First ascent by the east arête of the Meije with Otto Zsigmondy and Ludwig Purtscheller, 26 and 27 July
• 1885 - Attempted ascent of the south face of the Meije with Otto Zsigmondy and Karl Schulz, 6 August

Publications

• Die Gefahren der Alpen, Praktishe Winke für Bergsteiger (The Dangers of the Alps, Practical Hints for Climbers). Leipzig. 1885.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (later editions continued by Wilhelm Paulcke)
• Schulz, Karl, ed. (1889). Im Hochgebirge (In the High Mountains), Wanderungen von Dr. Emil Zsigmondy. Illustrated by E. T. Compton. Leipzig.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (posthumous)

External links

• Literature by and about Emil Zsigmondy in the German National Library catalogue
• "Fotos Wanderung Zsigmondy-Hütte". Martin Leitgeb. 16 July 2005. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2013. Photos of the Zsigmondyhütte in the Sexten Dolomites