Erich Müller (chemist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Müller as Ulane and old Alsatian in Strasbourg

Erich Max Müller (born February 17, 1870 in Chemnitz , † November 16, 1948 in Dresden ) was a German chemist. As a professor of electrochemistry, he taught at the technical universities in Dresden, Stuttgart and Braunschweig.

Early years

Müller's father was the silk weaver and Geh. Kommerzienrat Otto Müller , who had profited from France's contributions in the Franco-German War and had made a fortune. Erich Müller attended elementary school in Chemnitz from 1876, which he left soon after his parents moved to Seidenberg in Upper Lusatia in 1880 . He attended the humanistic Augustum-Annen-Gymnasium in Görlitz and passed the Abitur examination at Easter 1890. As a one-year volunteer with the Schleswig-Holstein Uhlan Regiment No. 15 in Strasbourg, he became a fox in the Corps Palaio-Alsatia on April 28, 1890 .

Study time

Müller was able to gain his first experience in chemistry in the dye works of his father's silk weaving mill in Seidenberg . Although he hardly enjoyed any science lessons at high school, rather learning the ancient languages ​​was in the foreground, he studied chemistry. Rudolph Fittig was his first teacher in Strasbourg, and the Swiss chemist Hans Heinrich Landolt in Berlin , with whom he became a doctor of organic chemistry in 1895. phil. received his doctorate . On March 7, 1895 he was promoted to lieutenant in his regiment. R. promoted. After a study trip through France and the United States, he worked in an English dye factory. In the year of his doctorate he returned to work in his father's dye works. In 1897 he married Elisabeth Standfuß, daughter of the sculptor Julius Standfuß . He had three children with her. The son Erich Albert Müller became a physiologist.

Research time

Erich Müller Building of the TU Dresden

In 1898 he started working in the field of electrochemistry at the Technical University of Dresden under the direction of Fritz Foerster . With a thesis on cathodic polarization and depolarization , he completed his habilitation there on July 21, 1900. In the same year he took over the institute for electrochemistry and physical chemistry, which was newly founded at the university . In 1903 he was appointed associate professor at the TH Dresden . Through his publications he also became known outside of Saxony and as a result was appointed professor at Braunschweig in 1904 to succeed Guido Bodländer . On July 22, 1905, he was appointed first lieutenant in the Landwehr cavalry. He stayed on the spot in Braunschweig for only two years. In 1906 he followed the call of the TH Stuttgart to her chair for electrochemistry. He stayed there until 1912. During this time he worked with Richard Abegg on a handbook of chemistry, which, however, could not be completed due to Abegg's death in 1910. Müller then published his results on the element iron as a separate book.

In 1912, Walther Hempel , Rector of the TH Dresden, retired and Müller's former superior Fritz Foerster took his place. As a result, the vacated chair for electrochemistry was offered to Müller. Although he had meanwhile become rector of the TH Stuttgart himself, he accepted the position, but was only able to hold it until 1914. He then had to lead an ammunition column as Rittmeister of the Landwehr cavalry in the First World War until 1916. In autumn 1916, he was transferred from the front to the Foundation for War Technology at the War Ministry in Berlin for health reasons . where Müller dealt with the improvement of military explosives. In spring 1919 he returned to the TH Dresden. He turned down offered visiting professorships at foreign universities. In 1929 he was appointed rector of the TH Dresden for one year . He retired on April 1, 1935. In November 1933, he signed the confession of the German professors to Adolf Hitler . Even in retirement he continued to work scientifically; his last publication is from 1944. During his time as professor, he wrote 166 dissertations and habilitation theses.

Müller's grave in Dresden

His grave is in the Johannisfriedhof (Dresden) .

Honors

See also

literature

  • Technical University of Dresden: buildings and names . 2nd Edition. Technical University of Dresden, Dresden 1997, p. 46 f.
  • Dieter Wahl: Biography of Erich Müller, In: Galvanotechnik 7/2000
  • Wolfgang Göbel:  Müller, Erich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 336 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 28/35
  2. ↑ Confession, p. 133 .
  3. ↑ Register of the Corps Palaio-Alsatia from 1880–2015, o. O., o. J., p. 61 f.
  4. ↑ Erich Müller Building
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Erich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Müller, Max Erich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1948
Place of death Dresden