Franz Pless

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Franz Pless (born October 10, 1819 in Hohenstein near Graupen , Kingdom of Bohemia , Austrian Empire , † May 10, 1905 in Graz , Austria-Hungary ) was a Bohemian - Austrian chemist and philanthropist .

Life

Childhood and youth in Bohemia

Franz Pless was born on October 10, 1819 in the village of Hohenstein, now Unčín, which belongs to Graupen, today Krupka, near the pilgrimage site Mariaschein at the foot of the Ore Mountains and near the battlefields of Kulm as the son of a landscape architect . Due to some losses and their sense of charity, his parents were forced to work harder so that the low income of the trade and a small farm would suffice to raise him and his seven siblings. At the age of twelve he came to the boarding school of the high school in Leitmeritz and at a young age his passion for the natural sciences was awakened by the mines located near his home. Since there were no books about it in the grammar school library, he self- taught himself a mineral collection and had Schubert's natural history sent to him from Dresden . Subsequently, he attended Charles University in Prague , where he studied under professors Franz Serafin Exner and Ferdinand Hessler . After completing his philosophical studies in Prague, he entered the knightly order of the Cross as a novice . In doing so, he received the promise from his grandmaster that he could apply for a professorship in natural sciences. However, this promise was withdrawn by the new Grand Master who soon followed, as he said that Pless should turn to a theological professorship.

First professorship in Prague after successful studies

After two years, he left the order because of these discrepancies in order to initially make the completion of his studies possible as an educator, after which he devoted himself to studying chemistry in the laboratory of Josef Redtenbacher in Prague. Redtenbacher had just arrived from Dresden by Justus von Liebig , after he was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Prague in his absence. In Prague he opened Redtenbacher's first lessons in modern chemistry and especially analytical chemistry in what was then Austria ( Austrian Empire ). During his studies in Prague, Pless also published his first work in the field of chemistry. In 1846 he was appointed assistant to the professor of chemistry at the Joanneum in Graz , Johann Gottlieb , and in the following year he also gave lectures on technical physics at the said Joanneum, which at that time expanded into a polytechnic educational institution and was mainly given by Archduke Johann in generously endowed. The production of the teaching material collection for the two chairs of chemistry and physics took up almost all of his energy. Likewise, the preparatory work for chemical and physical investigations, for example on piperine , poarponium oil, the effect of nitric acid on carbohydrates , after he had set up the correct formula for the gun cotton . Furthermore, during this time he had work on ultraviolet radiation and the receptivity of the retina to it and other things.

A few days after Léon Foucault carried out the experiment on the Foucault pendulum named after him in the basement of his Parisian house , Pless was able to demonstrate this experiment first in Germany and a little later in Austria at the Joanneum. On August 26, 1851, Pless was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Lemberg , where he found a large field of activity, since agriculture, trade, industry, as well as teaching were still on a low level and trade mostly in the Hands of the poor Israelites who lived here in large numbers, where he could make suggestions in all areas. After he had set up a chemical laboratory and founded the pharmaceutical training course, which had taken around a year and a half due to various opposing obstacles, he then mainly dealt with economic issues in order to secure solid ground for his new chemical chair among the population. Among other things, he made his merit through the first suggestion for petroleum extraction at Drohrbicz, the suggestion for better coal exploitation at Żółkiew or the fight against prejudices against coal heating by introducing the same in the university building and in the barracks. He also advocated the production of potash , saltpeter and other substances and salts.

To get to know the country and people, he traveled during the holidays 1852, the Eastern Carpathians , where he, among others, by Poschorita , Kirlibaba and Jakobeny in the Bukovina came. In Jakobeny he met in Manz'schen blast furnace, which in the early 19th century under the leadership of the Austrian Karl Manz, Knight of Mariensee was a kind Thomasieren of iron, which he in examining the slag and ores manganese - limonite found that one in Jakobeny had taken for an iron ore. As a result, Franz Pless decided to study this fact more closely in the following vacation. After he had mainly read a college on agricultural chemistry in the winter of 1852/53 , he found two papers by Auguste André Thomas Cahours and Julius Plücker in the specialist journals at the beginning of 1853 , which contained almost all of his work on piperine and ultraviolet radiation, whereby he was encouraged to reappear scientifically himself. Thereupon he began a work on the synthesis of nicotion , whereby he intended to fill a gap between the alkaloids and the homologous acids.

The momentous accident

In an attempt on March 12, 1853 in which he Valeria ether with ammonia liquid had treated valeramide manufacture, blind Pless complete. After he had already carried out such an experiment the day before, this time he tried to get the desired result with slow heating. Due to a delay in boiling , which at that time had not yet been explored, the ammonia liquid exploded, atomizing the glass retort and hurling the liquid onto his right eye, which then poured over his entire face and into his oral cavity. In this accident, the lens of his right eye was crushed and the left eye was burned and etched by the hot and corrosive liquid. After him tied also a meningitis weeks to the bedside, where he at this time as a university professor by Professor Gustav Wolf was represented before it completely from the 1856 Styrian Leopold von Pebal was replaced. Even after the slow recovery he had to put aside most of his strenuous mental work. In 1855 he still managed to bring the "coal question" to a conclusion, which was particularly appreciated in the harsh winter of 1855, when wood prices in Lviv had risen sharply and an acceptable alternative was found in coal.

Despite being blind, full of energy

With the help of his friend Franz Gatscher , who was then a professor of forensic medicine in Lemberg, he succeeded in removing three epidemics from the city during the cholera epidemic of 1855. This was achieved through the initiation of a better canal system, the closure of the Jewish cemetery , from which a spring with a corpse smell flowed, and through the regulation of the Israelite small market on Krakowskiplatz, in the Jewish quarter of Lviv. During this time he also used sulfuric acid against cholera, which he tested on 20 families, with the support of his wife Marie (née Seelig). At the time of the accident in which he became blind, he had just been engaged to Marie and subsequently married her in 1854. When Emperor Franz Joseph first visited the crown land of Galicia and its capital in June 1855 , he also stopped at the university , where he was introduced to the teaching staff there. At the performance, at which Pless was also present, the governor made a remark that Pless was not entitled to a pension because the period of service was too short, after which the emperor took care of his own retirement. He had previously been shown by Pless how this devastating explosion had come about. A week after his visit, Pless received a telegram from the then Minister for Cultus and Education , Leo von Thun und Hohenstein , in which it was stated that Emperor Franz Joseph was retiring with a full salary (at that time 1,000 convention guilders (fl. CM) for a university professor ) had signed.

Assured of his existence, he began to work again on new experiments and hoped, at least in the left eye, to regain some sight. In 1856 he started his journey via Krakow to his homeland by mail , before traveling six months later to Vienna, where his friend and compatriot Ferdinand von Arlt had moved from Prague. The surgeon and ophthalmologist wanted to help him regain at least weak vision by opening a pupil; However, the following year did not bring the hoped-for result. Only he had gained more objective light perception, which, however, did not help him to see either. In addition to Ferdinand von Arlt, Albrecht von Graefe , a second popular ophthalmologist of that time, was also trying to treat Franz Pless. During his time in Vienna, Pless also carried out further experiments and tested, among other things, the antiseptic effects of sulfuric acid on the potato mushroom and had also extended his work to other foods. Some of the results, such as the disinfection of apartments, cellars, stables, etc., were printed in a brochure with an edition of several thousand. He sent these to the participants in his patent on combating potato disease. He had another patent for the evaporation from above for salt solutions such as brine , soda , potash and ammonia solutions. The last-named patent was hardly ever used and was actually only intended for cheap recycling of brine and mother liquor .

Motions in the Austrian Parliament

During this time he also worked in the journal of his friend Ferdinand Stamm and published various experiments on the use of table salt that he had previously carried out in the journal The latest inventions . Through Stamm, who, in addition to his work as a writer and journalist, was also active in politics, Pless initiated a motion to lift the salt monopoly in the first Austrian parliament , which was only just founded as a Reichsrat . However, this proposal fell by a minority of two votes, but the then Finance Minister Ignaz von Plener had accepted his proposals with approval and promised to carry them out over time. However, only one of the applications he had submitted was subsequently carried through, namely the longest possible shipment of sea salt. A second application concerning the sale of salt flats in the vicinity of the salt springs was only carried out on the property of the Archbishop of Lviv and was not used in the rest of the empire. His remaining applications were not taken into account after the previous ministry, to which von Plener was still a member, was replaced by a new one. He also had other patents in the pipeline, one on heating ovens and another on ring ovens for bricks and pottery, which he dropped, however, as he knew from experience that as a blind man he could not protect his patent rights.

Relocation to Graz

He then made various other attempts, including on dry houses and living spaces, and made suggestions, such as the bakeout of new buildings, that came to fruition decades later. In addition, many of the articles he wrote were printed in English and American journals. Since he was unable to recover much from typhoid fever in Vienna , he moved to Graz in Styria, which was “healthy” for him, in 1862 , where he and Johann Gottlieb, under whom he was already an assistant, were Hofrat Eduard Krischek , Government councilor Ernst Mach , who was friends of Leopold von Pebal or Hofrat JM Rozsek. The future mayor of Graz Wilhelm Kienzl and his family also belonged to his circle of friends . In 1864 his last scientific work on the law of solution and explosions caused by delayed boiling appeared in the writings of the Vienna Academy of Sciences . This was entitled On the law of solution and the boiling of liquids and on steam explosions . His health improved especially after he had acquired a small property in Pößnitz near Marburg an der Drau in 1868 , where he successfully operated viticulture, fruit and meadow culture and spent a lot of time here. He also looked after an attached tree nursery himself. However, after his wife fell ill, he had to give up this property again; Marie Pless died in 1872.

Work in kindergarten and the last few years

During this time he also brought in some work on viticulture and fruit growing, including an article on the importance of poultry farming in soil culture in the Wiener Geflügelzeitung . Two years after the death of his wife, he had a new partner by his side in Sophia Edle von Scherer. Since von Scherer was previously active in kindergarten , the couple was invited to join the board of the Graz kindergarten association. The couple then devoted themselves largely to the business and educational care of eight different kindergartens. As a follower of Pestalozzi and Froebel , he applied their practices and made a contribution to the kindergarten system. Already at that time he pleaded for the urgent need for a kindergarten at every educational institution for blind children in order to support them in developing their other senses and to develop them further. For years, Pless collected material for two writings, one on children's pedagogy and one on ethics, both on a scientific basis. However, he is unlikely to have completed either work and was also affected by heavy losses in his income in the last year of his life. Franz Pless died on May 10, 1905 at the age of 85 in Graz, where he had lived for almost the entire past four decades. Until his death he always showed a healthy appearance and a healthy mind and, apart from his white hair, looked younger than he really was, which was also shown by his upright posture and his movements.

Publications (selection)

  • About the law of solution and the boiling of liquids and about steam explosions . In: Meeting reports of the Academy of Sciences. Mathematics and science class . tape 54 . Vienna 1866.
  • About the importance of poultry farming in soil culture . In: Wiener Geflügelzeitung . Vienna.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Pless, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian-Austrian chemist and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Hohenstein near Graupen, Kingdom of Bohemia , Empire of Austria
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1905
Place of death Graz , Austria-Hungary