Auguste Lumière

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Auguste Lumière

Auguste Lumière (born October 19, 1862 in Besançon , † April 10, 1954 in Lyon , France , full name Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière ) was a French inventor and entrepreneur. He was involved in the development of the cinematograph by his brother Louis . This device, which can be used as a camera and projector, made the cinema possible . However, his real interest was in biomedical research.

Life

Villa built by his father in Lyon in 1899, now the seat of the Institut Lumière museum
Scene from “ Workers Leave the Lumière Works ” from 1895, the oldest known film that was made with the cinematograph

Auguste was the son of Claude Antoine Lumière , who first worked as a painter and then successfully as a photographer in Besançon. The mother Jeanne-Joséphine worked in the photo studio. In 1864 his brother Louis was born; there were also four other siblings. In 1870 the family moved to Lyon, where the father quickly came into contact with the entire upper class of the city through his job. Auguste Lumière expresses contempt for the school lessons of his time; it kills all curiosity in the students. The only exception was the private school "La Martinière", which he was allowed to attend for two years and which he talks about enthusiastically. In order to prepare for the École polytechnique , Auguste studied the last year with a private tutor and successfully passed the Baccalauréat in 1879 . For a payment of 500 francs , he was able to reduce his military service to one year, which he served in an infantry regiment in Chambéry - according to him, the most unhappy time of his life.

During his military service his father gave up the photo studio and tried to set up a factory for photo plates . On August's return he had piled up a mountain of debt of 200,000 francs and was on the verge of bankruptcy . Auguste and his brother Louis managed to convince the creditors to defer the debt. Auguste developed an emulsion of silver bromide in gelatin for making photographic plates, and four siblings together brought the company to success. The company later switched to producing photo paper.

The family founded the Société Anonyme des Plaques et Papiers Photographiques Antoine Lumière et ses Fils , or Société Lumière for short , in the legal form of a stock corporation and a share capital of three million francs. Since his father's success went to his head, he invested too much money in private construction projects, and most of the shares passed into stranger hands. A businessman friend of mine finally helped avoid the loss of the company with a loan.

During the First World War , Auguste Lumière devoted himself to his real interest, biomedical research, at the Hôtel-Dieu in Lyon. After his demobilization, his son Henri joined the management of the Société Lumière . This allowed Auguste Lumière to resign and to fulfill a lifelong dream: With the Laboratoires Lumière he founded his own biomedical research center and pharmaceutical company. On November 26, 1928 he was elected as a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences (Medicine and Surgery Section).

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of cinema in 1995, a public controversy arose in France over the role of the Lumière brothers during the occupation . However, it focused on Louis Lumière, while Auguste was only mentioned in passing.

plant

The cinematograph and other photographic inventions

Auguste and Louis Lumière
Cinematograph in the arrangement for projecting

Auguste Lumière gives surprisingly little space in his memories to the cinematograph . To Him be the beginning of 1895 in a department store Lyon, Kinetoscope of Edison noticed. Since then, he has thought about how to show moving images to a larger crowd, and told his brother Louis about this problem, who finally found the technical solution. The cinematograph could be used for recording as well as for projecting and copying films. Until then, the two brothers had agreed to publish all their inventions together; the patents were owned by the Société Lumière . Auguste also raised no objections when Louis described himself as the sole inventor of the cinematograph. In his autobiography, he regrets that the cinematographer had given him the opportunity to fall out with his brother. Neither the Société Lumière , which owned the rights, nor the two brothers are said to have benefited financially from the invention of the cinematograph.

In 1891 three different compounds were known to be photographic developers . Auguste Lumière formulated a general rule which organic compounds can serve as developers. Of these, para-aminophenol and para-phenylenediamine became particularly important .

Lumière followed the discovery of X-rays with great interest, constructed an X-ray system himself and produced the first X-ray images in Lyon. During the First World War, he built up an X-ray medical service in Lyon with his own resources, which delivered over 18,000 x-ray images free of charge.

Biomedical research

Auguste Lumière attributes his interest in medicine to the illness of one of his sisters. Even after consulting several colleagues, the family doctor was unable to find the cause of her sudden fever. Auguste had read in the house encyclopedia that fever could also be caused by intestinal worms , and suggested this cause to the family doctor. In fact, the sister recovered after worming.

Auguste Lumière's close personal friend and supporter was Léon Bérard, a professor of medicine from Lyon, who is at the center of this recording; to his left Auguste Lumière.

Auguste Lumière had no medical training. As a result of his photochemical research, he founded a pharmaceutical research laboratory, the Laboratoires Lumières . During the First World War there was a sharp increase in tetanus infections. He achieved his first success with the injection of a 10 percent sodium sulfate solution for the treatment of tetanus crises. When treating the wounded at the Hôtel-Dieu in Lyon, he also repeatedly observed late outbreaks of tetanus, even though the wounded had been given anti-tetanus serum . Lumière noticed that tetanus usually followed operations in which shrapnel and similar foreign bodies had been removed. He was able to demonstrate that these foreign bodies were still contaminated with tetanus spores , which were released into the wound during removal. Lumière suggested that the wounded be given a new anti-tetanus serum prophylactically before an operation, after which late tetanus diseases practically disappeared. The new method was made known to the French Army through a ministerial circular .

When treating wounds, the problem arose again and again that parts of the dressing stuck to the wound secretions and the wound tore open again when the dressing was changed. Lumière developed a non-adhesive bandage, the first layer of which was made of tulle impregnated with antiseptic petroleum jelly . This bandage simply fell off the wound after it was cut open.

Pharmaceutical research

The popular fever and pain reliever Cryogénine (active ingredient: phenylsemicarbazide C 6 H 5 -NH-NH-CONH 2 ) was developed by Auguste Lumière in 1902. It worked quickly, had few side effects, and had a wide therapeutic range . It was mainly used in the case of feverish tuberculosis . Lumière also examined a number of heavy metal compounds, including the gold compound allochrysine , which was used in the treatment of rheumatism sufferers . In addition, a number of other medicines come from the Lumière company , but they are no longer in use today.

Theoretical work

Auguste Lumière drafted numerous medical theories that stand out for their great originality, even if they are no longer considered correct today. He understood the colloidal state as the principle of life . This state can only be destroyed by other colloids with the result of precipitation . On the basis of this principle, he explained numerous medical phenomena such as blood poisoning , anaphylactic shock , sensitization , the effects triggered by a vaccination , etc. To avoid precipitation, he developed intravenous magnesium thiosulfate (trade name: Emgé ), originally a photochemical, as a drug . Against the background of the then strict isolation measures in the case of tuberculosis, he called it a mistaken belief that this disease was contagious and called for the sick to be reintegrated into society. Lumière also made a contribution to the then numerous theories about cancer development . He disseminated his medical theses in his own journal, L'avenir médical , which was distributed to French doctors.

literature

  • Auguste Lumière: Mes travaux et mes jours . La Colombe, Paris 1953.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter L. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 16, 2020 (French).
  2. The usual account is that the father had been invited to a demonstration of the kinetoscope in Paris and on his return he had his two sons tackled the problem, see The New Encyclopædia Britannica , Vol. 7, 15th Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago 1993, p. 557.
  3. ^ Thierry Lefebvre: Quand Auguste Lumière découvrait la Cryogénine. In: Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie. Vol. 77, No. 283, 1989, ISSN  0035-2349 , pp. 351-352.