Friedemann Rex

Friedemann Rex (born December 18, 1931 in Pforzheim ) is professor for the history of natural sciences at the University of Tübingen (retired).

Life

After graduating from high school in 1950 at the humanistic grammar school in Pforzheim, Friedemann Rex studied chemistry at the TH Karlsruhe (diploma in chemistry 1956) and was a research associate for the history of chemistry at the Gmelin Institute from 1956 to 1966 . He continued his studies in 1957 at the University of Frankfurt , where he heard the history of natural sciences from Willy Hartner and was encouraged by him to learn the Arabic language . Later he also enrolled in Oriental Studies . He received his doctorate in 1966 with a dissertation on Alexander von Aphrodisias as Dr. phil. nat.

He followed his doctoral supervisor Matthias Schramm in 1967 from Frankfurt to the University of Tübingen , where he was a research assistant, completed his habilitation in 1973 (habilitation thesis on Arabic natural sciences) and became a private lecturer , teaching as an adjunct professor from 1977 and as a full professor from 1979. Schramm and Rex were the only two professors in the History of Science Department that the Faculty of Physics established in 1966.

When Matthias Schramm retired on March 31, 1996 and Friedemann Rex retired on March 31, 1997, both positions were no longer filled due to the now one-sided application-oriented orientation of the Faculty of Physics and the History of Natural Sciences department was closed.

Rex dealt primarily with the history of natural sciences in antiquity and in the western and eastern (Arab) Middle Ages and history of chemistry, alchemy and physics in the early modern period. He translated from Greek, Arabic and Latin.

He was a founding member of the Department of History of Chemistry at the Society of German Chemists .

Works

• Chrysipp's doctrine of mixing and the criticism made of it in Alexander's De mixtione by Aphrodisias . Dissertation 1966
• On the theory of natural processes in early Arabic science Das 'Kitab al-Ihrag', translated and explained. A contribution to the alchemical world view of the Gabir scripts (8th / 10th century AD) . 1975, ISBN 3-515-02067-5 , plus Habilitation Tübingen
• Friedemann Rex:  Libavius, Andreas. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 441 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Alchemy of Andreas Libavius . Verlag Chemie, Weinheim 1964, ISBN 3-527-25004-2
• Nicolas Guibert - a kind of chemical copernicus, Chemistry in Our Time , 14th year 1980, No. 6, pp. 191-196, ISSN  0009-2851
• Chemistry and Alchemy in China . In: Chemistry in Our Time . Volume 21, 1987, pp. 1–8, ISSN  0009-2851
• The oldest molecular theory. On Plato's quasi-chemical thought game in Timaeus (around 360 BC) , in: Chemistry in our time , Volume 23, 1989, pp. 200–206; doi : 10.1002 / ciuz.19890230604
• Fundamental contributions of Arabic science to the development of physics and chemistry . In: Heinz Balmer and Beat Glaus (eds.): The heyday of Arabic science . 1990, ISBN 3-7281-1593-2
• Lothar Meyer as reflected in his publications . In: Baussteine ​​zur Tübingen University History, No. 8, 1997, pp. 89-102
• In memory of Felix Hoppe-Seyler , Lothar Meyer and Walter Hückel . Professional histories and periodic table. In: Baussteine ​​zur Tübingen University History, No. 8, 1997, pp. 103–130
• Kepler's teacher Michael Maestlin and his textbook on astronomy (1582) . In: Gerhard Betsch and Jürgen Hamel (eds.): Between Copernicus and Kepler. M. Michael Maestlinus Mathematicus Goeppingensis 1550-1631 . 2002, ISBN 3-8171-1688-8
• Friedrich Eduard von Reusch - first physicist at the oldest natural science faculty in Germany 125 years ago . In: Building blocks for the history of the University of Tübingen . No. 10, 2005, pp. 33-48
• Newton's fundamental discovery of the composition of light . In: Arman Fäßler and Claus Jönsson (eds.): The top ten of the most beautiful physical experiments . 2005, ISBN 3-499-61628-9