Adolf Patera (chemist)

Adolf Patera (born July 11, 1819 in Vienna , † June 26, 1894 in Teschen ) was an Austrian mining scientist and chemist. Patera laid the foundation for the factory production of pure uranium compounds from pitchblende .

Life

Uranium glass under black light

After graduating from the Bergakademie Schemnitz in 1843, Patera started as an intern at the Imperial and Royal Main and Land Coin Testing Office in Vienna. After the Příbram Mining Academy was founded in 1849, he was appointed assistant in the field of metallurgy and tasting and was entrusted with organizing and setting up the laboratory. In 1852 he received an order from the Supreme Mining Administration in Vienna to carry out experiments in Sankt Joachimsthal to improve existing methods of ore processing and to develop new processes. One result of this was the possibility of obtaining uranium dyes from pitchblende.

In the 19th century, uranium ore was only mined at the same time and occasionally given to chemical, glass and porcelain factories that produced colors for glass and porcelain according to a recipe by Martin Heinrich Klaproth . Patera recognized that uranium compounds could be used financially in the glass and porcelain industry. The improvement of the manufacturing process through his test results ushered in a turning point and as early as 1853 the scheduled mining of uranium ore began in the Einigkeit mine - initially for the production of paint.

In 1856 a uranium dye factory was set up in Sankt Joachimsthal. This supplied the global glass and ceramics industry with the brown-black coloring uranium compounds necessary for glass coloring or painting and labeling.

Due to his merits, Patera was appointed metallurgical chemist for the entire Austrian mining industry at the end of 1857, and in 1873 he was appointed Reich chemist. In 1881 he was awarded the title of Oberbergrat , and in 1889, after he had been awarded the title of Hofrat , he retired.

literature

• Ernest A. Kolbe: Adolf Patera and his work regarding the factory extraction of uranium compounds from pitchblende in St. Joachimsthal in the Bohemian Ore Mountains 100 years ago . In: Technical Museum for Industry and Commerce in Vienna - Research Institute for the History of Technology (Hrsg.): Blätter für Technikgeschichte . No. Nineteenth. Springer Verlag, Vienna 1957, p. 73-76 ( digitized version [accessed July 19, 2018]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Irena Seidlerová, Jan Seidler: Jáchymover uranium and radioactivity research at the turn of 19-20. Century . Ed .: Rudolf Holze. Universitätsverlag Chemnitz, Chemnitz 2010, ISBN 978-3-941003-22-4 , p. 13–14 , urn : nbn: de: bsz: ch1-qucosa-62259 .