Friedrich Giesel

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Friedrich Oskar Giesel (born May 20, 1852 in Winzig , Lower Silesia , † November 14, 1927 in Braunschweig ) was a German chemist and pioneer of radioactivity research .

life and work

Giesel was the son of a doctor. He studied chemistry, did his doctorate at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen , was a scientific assistant at the Gewerbeakademie Berlin for several years and finally took a position as a chief industrial chemist at the Braunschweig quinine factory Buchler & Co. He brought the company's quinine production up to date and ensured that the product range was expanded to include cocaine and hyoscyamine for medical purposes. Together with his university professor Carl Liebermann , he made some fundamental scientific contributions on quinine and cocaine.

1896, the Frenchman discovered Henri Becquerel the radioactivity . When the young scientist Marie Curie reported two years later that she had found the previously unknown radioactive element polonium in uranium residues , Giesel also tried to depict polonium. He managed to isolate a substance with radioactive properties. However, it wasn't polonium as he expected. As it turned out a little later, he had discovered radium at the same time and independently of the Curie couple .

In the period that followed, Giesel concentrated on developing an industrially usable method of extracting radium and finally brought radioactive material onto the market. In an extremely generous manner, he made specimens available to scientists of all nations for their research work. Ernest Rutherford once wrote about Giesel that he and the entire scientific world are indebted to him for the provision of radioactive material.

Friedrich Giesel also made research contributions. For example, he worked out the radiation properties that characterize the different penetration capacity and the different range; the element actinium (called Emanium by him) was discovered independently by André-Louis Debierne in 1902; With the proof of the magnetic deflectability of the β-rays Giesel created the basis for their identification as fast moving electrons. In 1903 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Another discovery by Giesel was that the phosphorescence of zinc sulfide was excited by α radiation . The phenomenon was then used in spin ariscopes to determine the intensity of ionizing radiation . Giesel himself led the discovery to the invention of a self-luminous color by mixing radium salt with zinc sulfide. This radium luminous material was used, among other things, in the watch industry.

In self-experiments that can be described as murderous from today's point of view , Giesel also took part in the findings on radioactivity with regard to its physiological effects. Years of unprotected, careless handling of radiating substances finally took its toll. After a long and agonizing infirmity, psychologically marked by the early death of his dearly beloved son, he died in 1927 at the age of 75. In keeping with his modest way of life, Giesel received a simple urn grave in the Brunswick cemetery on Helmstedter Strasse. A memorial stone was not erected until 1955.

In Braunschweig, Giesel was known and respected as a scientist with a wide range of interests, in addition to his achievements in the field of radioactivity. For example, he is likely to have been one of the first to deal with color photography. When the news of Röntgen's discovery of body-penetrating rays spread, he immediately built an X-ray machine. Together with his friend, the dentist Otto Walkhoff , he used it to take, among other things, skull and spectacular tooth images.

Fonts (selection)

  • Via artificial coloring of crystals of the halide salts of the alkali metals through the action of potassium and sodium vapor. in: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 30: pp. 156-158, 1897, ISSN  0365-9496 .
  • Something about the behavior of radioactive barite and about polonium. in: Annals of Physics and Chemistry. 69: pp. 91-94, 1899, ISSN  0003-3804 .
  • About the deflectability of the Becquerel rays in the magnetic field. in: Annals of Physics and Chemistry. 69: pp. 834-836, 1899, ISSN  0003-3804 .
  • Something about radium barium salts and their rays. in: Negotiations of the German physical society. 2: pp. 9–10, Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig; JA Barth, Leipzig 1900, ISSN  0420-0195 .
  • About radioactive substances. in: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 33: pp. 3569-3571, 1900 and 34: pp. 3772-3776, 1901, ISSN  0365-9496 .
  • About radioactive substances and their rays . Special edition from the collection of chemical and chemical-technical lectures. Edited by Felix B. Ahrens. Enke, Stuttgart 1902, ISSN 0177-4689
  • About radium bromide and its flame spectrum. in: Physikalische Zeitschrift. 3: pp. 614-615, Hirzel, Leipzig 1902, ISSN  0369-982X .
  • About the emanation body made of pitchblende and about radium. in: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 36: pp. 342-347, 1903, ISSN  0365-9496 .
  • On polonium and the inductive property of radium. in: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 36: 2368-2370, 1903, ISSN  0365-9496 .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Giesel, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giesel, Friedrich Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and pioneer of radioactivity research
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Wińsko , Silesia
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1927
Place of death Braunschweig