Friedrich Christian Fikentscher

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Ferdinand v. Lütgendorff-Leinburg : Portrait of Friedrich Christian Fikentscher , 1845
Ferdinand v. Lütgendorff-Leinburg: Portrait of Louise Fikentscher born. Trommsdorff , 1845

Friedrich Christian Fikentscher (born November 15, 1799 in Redwitz (today: Marktredwitz), † August 9, 1864 in Zwickau ) was a Saxon chemist, entrepreneur and member of the state parliament .

Career

As the son of the Franconian factory owner and founder of the Marktredwitz chemical factory, Wolfgang Caspar Fikentscher , Friedrich Christian Fikentscher initially received his training in his father's factory. From 1817 he attended the well-known pharmaceutical training institute of Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff , his future father-in-law, in Erfurt, where he perfected his knowledge of chemistry. Long study trips to France, for example to Paris for a semester in 1824 and to England in 1830, served to expand chemical knowledge as well as to obtain information about the working methods of industrial companies there.

He took over the management of a glassworks near Markt Redwitz, of which his father was a co-owner, where he was the first to suggest the introduction of sodium sulfate instead of soda in glass production. In 1822 he made the acquaintance of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there , for whom he manufactured special entoptic glasses for experiments as part of his color theory . He was also mayor of Markt Redwitz in the mid-1830s. After his father's death, from 1837 onwards, together with his brother Matthäus Wilhelm, he also ran his father's chemical factory. Disagreements with the brother led to the departure from the Markt Redwitz company in 1848.

The Fikentscher glassworks in Zwickau (from: Die Gartenlaube , 1857)
The Fikentscher salt works in Zwickau (from: Die Gartenlaube , 1857)

From 1845 Fikentscher founded his own glassworks with a chemical department in Zwickau. The decision in favor of Zwickau in Saxony was made on the recommendation of the porcelain manufacturer Christian Fischer, who built a new factory there in 1845 (Fikentscher knew him from his studies at Trommsdorff in Erfurt). But were more important economic aspects such as the developing coal mining and the existing railway connection Zwickau, while the rail connection from Marktredwitz not take place until the 1878th

In 1852 there was a meeting in Zwickau with Louis Pasteur , who was interested in the production of tartaric acid. The scope of the undertakings grew continuously over the next few years; The company described the album of the Saxon industry in 1856 as follows:

At present this establishment, as already mentioned in part, consists of

  1. a glassworks in which [...] sheet glass, mainly also retorts [...], is produced,
  2. a chemical factory which manufactures sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, Glauber's salt, chlorinated lime, nitric acid, alum, tartaric acid, cinnabar and some mercury preparations [...], as well as [...] water glass,
  3. a pottery factory, [...] with the manufacture of refractory bricks, slabs and shaped bricks, water pipes [...],
  4. from a Koakerei and
  5. a manufacture of table salt for own use […].

Fikentscher was also active again as a politician: he was a city councilor in Zwickau and from 1854 to 1859 he was a member of the second chamber of the Saxon state parliament as a representative of the 15th urban constituency .

Fikentscher was u. a. also deputy chairman of the Zwickau citizens' union, the two main shafts of which were located immediately north of his factory on the other side of Bürgererschachtstrasse and from where he obtained hard coal, coke oven gas and 1.5 percent brine.

Fikentscher was married from 1832 to Sophie Louise Trommsdorff (1813-1850) and after her early death from 1851 in second marriage with Dorothea Friderika Rosalie Mensing (1826-1895). There were six sons and two daughters in each marriage. The best known of his children were Wilhelm (1839–1890), also a chemist and manufacturer, Paul (1861–1924), entrepreneur and commercial judge, and Otto (1862–1945), a painter. A granddaughter was the legal historian Gertrud Schubart-Fikentscher , a great-grandson is the politician Rüdiger Fikentscher .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Woldemar von Biedermann : Goethe and the Fikentscher. Teubner, Dresden 1878 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dgoeunddiefikent01biedgoog~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D )
  2. ↑ Magistrat des Markt Redwitz: Jahrbücher des Markt Redwitz, 1835/36 . tape 1 . Wunsiedel 1837, p. 4; 31 ( online ).
  3. ↑ The glass and chem. Factory of Fr. Chr. Fikentscher In: Album of the Saxon industry. Neusalza 1856. SLUB Dresden
  4. ^ Fikentscher, CF, member of the Saxon state parliament. landtagsprotokoll.sachsendigital.de, accessed on March 20, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Norbert Peschke: The optimism used. In: Freie Presse , June 29, 2018. p. 10
  6. ↑ See literature: Rüdiger Fikentscher: Seven Networks: ...
personal data
SURNAME Fikentscher, Friedrich Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fikentscher, Friedrich; Fikentscher, Georg Friedrich Christian (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Saxon chemist, entrepreneur and member of the state parliament
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Redwitz
DATE OF DEATH August 9, 1864
Place of death Zwickau