Alwin Mittasch

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Alwin Mittasch, 1902

Paul Alwin Mittasch ( Upper Sorbian Pawoł Alwin Mitaš ; * December 27, 1869 in Großdehsa , today in Löbau (Lausitz) in Saxony; †  June 4, 1953 in Heidelberg ) was a German chemist and natural science historian of Sorbian origin. His pioneering and systematic research on the development of catalysts for ammonia synthesis using the Haber-Bosch process gave him a great reputation.

Life

Alwin Mittasch was born in 1869 as the son of a teacher in the Sorbian village Großdehsa / Dažin in Upper Lusatia . He was the fourth of five siblings, a brother and three sisters. First he attended elementary school in his home village. He then moved to a boarding school in Bautzen , where he finished the teachers' seminar in 1889 . After that, like his father, he pursued a career as a teacher. In his first position as an assistant teacher at the elementary school in Klix near Guttau, he worked for three years.

At the suggestion of his older brother, he moved to Leipzig in 1892 , where he took a position at the district school of Leipzig-Kleinzschocher for five years. On the side, he began a part-time university course there in numerous subjects, including history, philosophy , psychology , but also the natural sciences. From 1894 he heard lectures from Wilhelm Ostwald on energetics. Gradually, however, he devoted himself to chemistry. Thanks to the financial support of his sister, he was able to interrupt the school service for half a year and to devote himself to the study of natural sciences in general. After completing these studies, he started teaching at a school near the Chemical Institute. Initially, he studied chemistry with the aim of becoming a chemistry and physics teacher at a middle school.

In 1901 he received his doctorate in chemistry in the department of Wilhelm Ostwald in the field of physical chemistry . Max Bodenstein became his doctoral supervisor. Mittasch finished his dissertation, which dealt with nickel carbonyls , after one and a half years with the grade summa cum laude despite being employed full-time as a teacher . The basic results of this work found u. a. Used in the development of the Mond- Langer carbonyl process for nickel production . Even decades later, his research results were consulted by experts. As before, however, he also dealt intensively with philosophy. Mittasch could not pursue a habilitation because he did not have a high school diploma . So he hit the road in industry.

After the death of his eldest son Heinz Mittasch in 1932, he retired early, moved to Heidelberg and devoted himself to writing, music and gardening. Mittasch was not a political person; Although he probably voted for National Socialism in 1933 , he was never its ideological supporter. Alwin Mittasch died in Heidelberg in 1953. He left his wife Dora Martha Mittasch (née Jäger) and his younger son Helmut Mittasch.

Act

Mittasch began his career in 1903 in Stolberg near Aachen as an analytical chemist in an AG for mining, lead and zinc production, where he soon received a leading position in the metalworking industry.

After only one year, however, on the recommendation of his then doctoral supervisor , he switched to BASF , where he started working as an assistant to Carl Bosch . He took part in experiments in which nitrogen was supposed to be fixed via metal nitrides and metal cyanides. In 1909 Mittasch began the systematic search for a catalyst for ammonia production on the basis of iron oxide , as a result of which around 20,000 attempts were carried out to optimize it. The catalyst found (iron (II / III) oxide Fe 3 O 4 , K 2 O, CaO, Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 ) made large-scale ammonia synthesis possible and has been used almost unchanged to this day. Due to his great success, Mittasch became head of research at the then newly founded ammonia laboratory at BASF in 1918 .

Not only the use of the efficient catalyst for ammonia production goes back to Mittasch, but also the catalytic ammonia oxidation for nitric acid production, the high pressure methanol synthesis (with Matthias Pier 1923) with mixed oxide catalysts ( zinc oxide and chromium (III) oxide ), as well as the high pressure carbonyl processes for the extraction of the purest Metals such as nickel and carbonyl iron . The results of his work are recorded in 85 patents, most of which he registered with his employees.

After finishing his career as a chemist, he wrote a lot about the history of chemistry and the philosophy of the natural sciences, for which he received recognition from high-ranking people such as Theodor Heuss . In late 1944 he also began to write the "Chronicle of my Life".

Awards and honors

Mittasch received numerous honors for his knowledge and commitment. The University of Munich Technical University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1923. In 1927 he received the Emil Fischer Medal from the Association of German Chemists . The University of LwH Berlin awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1928. In addition, in 1929 he received the Silver Medal of Merit of the Association of Palatinate Industrialists and the Golden Bunsen Medal of the German Bunsen Society . In 1933 he received the Liebig Kekule Medal from the Liebighaus Society. In 1937 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . Since 1939 he was a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . In 1942 he received the Carus Medal from the Leopoldina . The Württemberg-Baden government appointed him professor in 1949.

In honor of Alwin Mittasch, DECHEMA regularly awards the Alwin Mittasch Prize (formerly the Alwin Mittasch Medal) for outstanding achievements in the field of catalysis research. Alwin-Mittasch-Strasse in the Maxdorf BASF housing estate and Alwin-Mittasch-Platz in Ludwigshafen am Rhein are named after him.

Fonts

  • Chemical dynamics of nickel carbon oxide (dissertation). In: Journal of physical chemistry. 1902, 40, pp. 1-88.
  • with E. Theis: From Davy and Döbereiner to Deacon. Half a century of interfacial catalysis. 1932.
  • Brief history of catalysis in practice and theory. 1939.
  • Life Problems and Catalysis. 1947.
  • From chemistry to philosophy. Selected writings and lectures. 1948. (with autobibliography)
  • History of ammonia synthesis. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim 1951.
  • Nitric acid from ammonia. 1953.
  • Redemption and consummation. Thoughts on the final questions. 1953.

literature

Web links

Commons : Alwin Mittasch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Karl Holdermann: Alwin Mittasch, 1869-1953, In Memoriam .
  2. ↑ a b Lothar Beyer: Alwin Mittasch: industrial chemist and philosopher. In: News from chemistry. 52, 2004, pp. 675-679, doi : 10.1002 / nadc.20040520609


personal data
SURNAME Mittasch, Alwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mittasch, Paul Alwin; Mitaš, Pawoł Alwin (Upper Sorbian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Major dehsa
DATE OF DEATH 4th June 1953
Place of death Heidelberg