Eugene Lucius

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Eugene Lucius

Eugen Nicolaus Lucius , sometimes also Nicolaus Eugen Lucius , (born April 15, 1834 in Erfurt , † May 15, 1903 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German chemist , entrepreneur and patron .

life and work

Eugen Lucius was the tenth of eleven children of the Erfurt entrepreneur Sebastian Lucius , whose company Johann Anton Lucius included spinning, weaving and printing works in Thuringia and Saxony as well as the trade in imported British yarns. His younger brother was the German politician Robert Lucius von Ballhausen .

Eugen Lucius graduated from secondary school in Erfurt and then began studying chemistry at the Technical University of Hanover , but soon switched to the University of Berlin . In 1855 he moved to Wiesbaden to study with Carl Remigius Fresenius . During this time he met his future friend Adolf Brüning .

Lucius planned early on to found his own company and for this purpose went to Manchester in 1857 , where he got to know British industry. At the same time he continued his chemistry studies. Lucius later spoke of the intensive social contact between the Germans living in Manchester . Nevertheless, it is questionable whether he met Friedrich Engels , who was then living in Manchester , at least nothing is known about it. What was important for Lucius, however, was the contact with Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Meister from Hamburg , who at the time was running a business for his family in Manchester.

In 1858 Lucius went to Heidelberg University to complete his studies with a doctorate under Robert Wilhelm Bunsen . On July 9, 1858 he acquired citizenship of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main for 97,500 guilders . At that time, Frankfurt did not tolerate any large industrial companies within its small territory, but some companies had already settled in the surrounding area. As a trading metropolis with a rich bourgeoisie and its international connections, Frankfurt was also a good starting point for businesses.

Chemical works Lucius & Saul around 1885

In July 1858, Lucius, together with Johann Friedrich Saul, who was also from Erfurt, bought the drug store Pulverisieranstalt F. Wippermann in Oeder Weg and renamed it Lucius & Saul . On August 13, 1858, Lucius and Saul received permission in the factory to manufacture and sell “the products that have been manufactured in the same factory since then, as well as chemical and technical products and preparations, paints, pharmaceutical woods, salts etc.”.

In 1860 Lucius married Maximiliane Eduarde Becker (1842–1922), a daughter of the Frankfurt painter Jakob Becker . Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Meister, whom he knew from his time in Manchester, married Maximiliane's older sister Marie.

Together with Ludwig August Müller, an uncle of their wives, Meister and Lucius founded the tar paint factory Meister, Lucius & Co. on January 4, 1863 in Höchst am Main, then in Nassau . For a long time the largest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world, Hoechst AG , emerged from this company . Lucius' fellow student Adolf Brüning became technical director with a profit share, but without holding any capital of his own.

Soon afterwards, the factory began producing fuchsine and aniline , and later also the aldehyde green developed by Lucius and Brüning . This was the first green textile dye that retained its color even under gas light. When it was possible to win the French Empress Eugénie as a customer and to supply large quantities of Höchst dyes to the textile industry in Lyon , this brought the breakthrough for the newly founded company. In 1865 Adolf Brüning took the place of the resigned partner Müller; since then the company has operated as Farbwerke Meister, Lucius & Brüning . In 1869, the Farbwerke brought Alizarin , a red dye, to the market, which quickly became the most successful product and popularly brought the factory the name red factory .

In 1864 Saul left the joint company in Oeder Weg. Paul Friedrich Schumacher from Stuttgart became the new partner . The company now traded as a factory for pharmaceutical and chemical preparations, a factory for cocoa masses and chocolates, a steam mill and pulverizer E. Lucius in Frankfurt am Main. In 1874 Lucius sold the factory to the entrepreneur FA Büdingen .

In 1880 the color works were converted into a stock corporation. Lucius was chairman of the board from 1884 to 1902 . Under his leadership, production was expanded to include acids (1880) and pharmaceuticals (1883). At the same time, together with the other partners, he was very committed to the interests of the workforce, including building workers' housing estates.

He was also active in the cultural life of the city of Frankfurt, for example for the Free German Hochstift . From 1876 to 1901 he was a member of the city ​​council and from 1878/1879 a member of Frankfurt's Prussian House of Representatives .

Lucius died on May 15, 1903 in Frankfurt am Main. He was buried in the main cemetery in Frankfurt . According to him, which is Luciusstraße in peak named.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Mann (edit.): Biographical manual for the Prussian House of Representatives. 1867-1918. (with the collaboration of Martin Doerry , Cornelia Rauh and Thomas Kühne ) Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1988, p. 254. (= Handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties , volume 3.)
  2. ↑ on the election results see Thomas Kühne: Handbook of elections to the Prussian House of Representatives 1867-1918. Election results, election alliances and election candidates (= handbooks on the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 6). Droste, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-7700-5182-3 , pp. 672-675.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Lucius, Eugene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lucius, Eugen Nicolaus (full name); Lucius, Nicolaus Eugen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist, entrepreneur and patron
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1903
Place of death Frankfurt am Main