Carlos Otto

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Carlos Otto

Carlos Frederico Otto (born March 7, 1838 in Mirador , Mexico ; † November 13, 1897 in Ahrweiler ) was a German chemist and entrepreneur . As a student of Justus von Liebig , he developed the extraction of by-products from the coking of coal and thus became a pioneer in coal chemistry . He was a co-founder of the Dr. C. Otto & Comp. for the production of refractory materials .

Life

Otto was born in 1838 as the son of the former Hessian judge Johann Ludwig Otto (1797–1840) and his wife Bertha Otto b. Raven (1805–1884) was born in Mexico, where his father had been an entrepreneur and farmer since 1835. The couple had an older son, Bruno (1829–1904), who later worked as a railroad engineer.

After the father's death, the family returned to Giessen . Carlos Otto attended a grammar school there from 1845 to 1855 and then began studying camera sciences at the University of Giessen , but then opted for chemistry instead and received his doctorate there in 1858 . Then he attended the Bergakademie Freiberg . In 1860 he took up a position as a chemist at the company HJ Vygen & Co. in (Duisburg-) Hochfeld , which manufactured refractory bricks for the iron and steel industry. Otto excelled there by introducing new products. In 1862 he took over the technical management and in 1864 he became an authorized signatory .

In 1866 he married Lina Hiby (1842–1887), a daughter of the farmer and tradesman Wilhelm Hiby (senior) in Hattingen . With her he had four daughters and two sons: Fritz (1876–1925) and Carl (1887–1970), who later also worked in coking plant construction.

In 1872 Otto and four other partners, including his father-in-law and his brother-in-law Wilhelm Hiby (jun.), Founded the company Dr. C. Otto & Comp. in Dahlhausen (Ruhr) near Hattingen, where he acted as sole managing director . The company soon developed into a major producer of refractory products. As early as 1875 it was producing stones from quartzite with a lime bond ( silica stones). During the start-up crisis , Otto introduced new business areas in 1876. His company became a world leader in coke oven construction . At the end of the 19th century, Dr. C. Otto & Comp. Germany's largest producer of tar . Otto supported the protective tariff policy and tried to form cartels with other companies . He was a co-founder and chairman of the Association of German Refractory Products and the pioneer of the German Ammonia Sales Association and the German Tar Sales Association , which were later founded and directed by his successor in the management, Gustav Hilgenstock. He was also involved in various committees in Dahlhausen, where he was, among other things, community leader.

In 1897 Otto died in the Rhineland spa town of Ahrweiler. His grave in (Bochum-) Linden has been a listed building since 1996 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Manfred Rasch:  Otto, Friedrich (actually Frederico) Victor Carl (os). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , pp. 707 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ↑ Justification in the Bochum monument list (PDF file; 367 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Otto, Carlos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Otto, Frederico Victor Carlos (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Mirador , Mexico
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1897
Place of death Ahrweiler