Albert Wassermann

Adolf Albert Wassermann (born December 4, 1901 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † October 2, 1971 in Aarsele , West Flanders Province , Belgium) was an Austrian chemist.

Life and activity

Wassermann was a son of the writer Jakob Wassermann and his wife Julie, nee. Speyer. He grew up in Vienna and attended a secondary school. He then studied chemistry at the University of Vienna and the University of Munich from the winter semester 1920/1921 . Richard Willstätter and Richard Kuhn were among his teachers . In 1925 he received his doctorate at Kuhn with a thesis on benzene derivatives to Dr. rer nat.

From 1931 to 1932 Wassermann was an assistant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Heidelberg and a member of the Max Planck Institute there. After his habilitation in Karlsruhe in 1932, he taught from 1932 to 1933 as a private lecturer at the TH Karlsruhe.

In the wake of the power of commencement of the Nazis in the spring of 1933, emigrated to Britain Aquarius. There he worked from 1933 to 1935 as a research assistant at University College in London. He then taught from 1936 to 1937 at University College in Southampton. In 1939 he became a DS at the University of London.

From 1939 to 1945 Wassermann worked as a researcher at the Imperial College for Science and Technology and at the Ministry of Home Security in armaments research.

After his emigration, the National Socialist police authorities classified Wassermann as an enemy of the state: In the spring of 1940, the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin placed him on the special wanted list GB , a list of people who would be succeeded by the occupying forces in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht Special SS commandos were to be identified and arrested with special priority.

From 1945 to 1950 Wassermann did research as a Collie Research Fellow. 1955 Wassermann was a lecturer and 1958 associate professor of chemistry at London University College.

The main research focus of Wassermann, who was considered a specialist in polymer chemistry and biochemistry, was the structure of acids and absorption spectra of organic substances. He has published in journals such as the Journal of Physical Chemistry , the Journal of the Chemical Society, and the Journal of Polymer Science and Nature .

Aquarius died in a plane crash .

family

Wassermann was married to Anni, who was also a chemist.

Fonts

• Measurements of the dissociation constants of some benzene derivatives and a consideration of the 'general polarity' of the substituents. Investigations in the Fluoren-9 series , 1926. (Dissertation)
• Diels-Alder Reactions. Organic Background and Physico-Chemical Aspects , 1965.
• Size and Shape Changes of Contractile Polymers. Conversion of Chemical into Mechanical Energy. Proceedings of Seminars held at University College , 1960.

literature

• Ronald Nyholm: Obituary, in: The Times, October 8, 1971
• Reinhard Rürup : Albert Wassermann. In: Ders .: Fates and Careers. Memorial book for the researchers expelled from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society by the National Socialists. 2008, pp. 351-353.
• Susanne Blumesberger, Michael Doppelhofer, Gabriele Mauthe: Handbook of Austrian authors of Jewish origin from the 18th to the 20th century. Volume 3: S – Z, Register. Edited by the Austrian National Library. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-11545-8 , p. 1427.
• Wassermann, Albert , in: Werner Röder; Herbert A. Strauss (Ed.): International Biographical Dictionary of Central European Emigrés 1933-1945 . Volume 2.2. Munich: Saur, 1983 ISBN 3-598-10089-2 , p. 1210

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry on Wassermann on the special wanted site GB (reproduced on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London).