Ernst von Meyer (chemist)

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Grave of Ernst von Meyer, Johannisfriedhof, Dresden

Ernst Sigismund Christian von Meyer (born August 25, 1847 in Kassel , † April 11, 1916 in Dresden ) was a German chemist and chemical historian.

origin

The family received imperial nobility in 1779 with Wilhelm von Meyer (1731–1806), Minister of State for Hesse and Kassel .

His father Friedrich Siegmund von Meyer (1807–1888) was Minister of State for the Electorate of Hesse and envoy in Paris. His mother was Charlotte Schlarbaum (1809–1882), a daughter of the procurator Franz Adolph Benjamin Schlarbaum .

Life

After graduating from high school Fridericianum in Kassel, he studied chemistry with Hermann Kolbe in Leipzig, where he received his doctorate in 1872 after participating in the Franco-Prussian War (on the gases trapped in coal). On the advice of Kolbe, he also studied in Heidelberg with Robert Bunsen (whose pupil Kolbe was) in 1868/69 , where he also heard the chemical historian Hermann Kopp . Then he did his military service in the artillery. On his return to Leipzig he was also influenced by the teachings of the local lecturer Carl Graebe , who, in contrast to Kolbe, represented the modern conception of organic chemistry shaped by Kekulé . In 1874 he completed his habilitation in Leipzig, became an associate professor in 1878 and, upon Kolbe's death in 1884, deputy chair until 1885 Johannes Wislicenus was appointed. Wislicenus represented the school of structural chemistry that Kolbe opposed and Meyer therefore couldn't get along with him.

Meyer founded a private chemistry classroom in 1887 together with the former Kolbe assistant Anton Weddige . In 1895 he succeeded Rudolf Schmitt's chair for organic chemistry at the TH Dresden . From 1898 to 1900 and 1912/13 he was rector there. He was a privy councilor.

He dealt with explosives, gas analysis and organic nitrogen compounds such as dinitriles and nitrogen-containing heterocycles . He also dealt with chemistry history. Since 1870 he published the journal for practical chemistry . Meyer was a member of the scientific academies in Leipzig ( Royal Saxon Society of Sciences ), Stockholm and Turin as well as the Leopoldina and the Physico-Medical Society in Erlangen.

family

In 1876 he married Johanna Kolbe, daughter of Hermann Kolbe and had three sons and two daughters with her. Hermann Kolbe's wife was his cousin. He and his wife had three sons and two daughters, but one son died early. His daughter Charlotte (1879–1964) married Professor Hermann Schmitt (1874–1932).

Fonts

  • The explosives and the fireworks in 1874
  • The history of chemistry from the earliest times to the present, 1899, 3rd edition 1914 (also translated into English, Italian and Russian, the latter edited by Mendeleev), Internet Archive
  • Chemistry, Leipzig 1913
  • In memory of Hermann Kolbe, Leipzig 1884

He also edited the new editions of Hermann Kolbe's textbook on organic chemistry.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Ernst von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyer, Ernst Sigismund Christian von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and chemical historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 25, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1916
Place of death Dresden