Friedrich Wilhelm Curtius
Friedrich Wilhelm Curtius (born April 21, 1782 in Goch , † February 12, 1862 in Duisburg ) was a German entrepreneur in the chemical industry .
family
His father, Caspar Ludwig Curtius (* probably in Bremen; baptized on April 28, 1746 in Lippstadt ; † March 31, 1797 in Goch) had attended the Latin school in Halle from 1759 , pharmacy in a pharmacy in Bielefeld (see Ludwig Philipp Aschoff ), studied medicine from 1767 and became city and official physician in Goch. His mother was the pastor's daughter Johanna, geb. Fabritius (1746-84). His grandfather Arnold Curtius (1697–1774) from Bremen was the mayor of Lippstadt.
Life
Orphaned, Friedrich Wilhelm Curtius began an apprenticeship as a pharmacist with Aschoff in Bielefeld at the request of his father . In 1801 he escaped from his guardian or teacher and traveled to America to join Alexander von Humboldt 's expedition . Seriously disappointed, he returned in 1802 and worked in Duisburg as an accountant and traveler in a materials and wine store. In 1815 he married the widow of the Amsterdam merchant Theodore Sigris (1794–1868), with whom he had eleven children.
In the same year he founded a drug wholesaler . In 1824 he founded a sulfuric acid factory as the first industrial company in Duisburg ( Kaßlerfeld ). Together with his son-in-law and a partner , he founded the company "Matthes & Weber" (M&W) in 1838. This made soda . Chlorinated lime production was added ten years later . He also acquired a production facility for alum in 1840 and expanded it into the alum and alumina sulfate factory "Friedrich Curtius & Compagnie". In 1849 an ultramarine factory was founded under the name "Julius Curtius."
His companies remained legally independent, but were managed by Curtius as a whole. The knowledge that a high level of vertical integration ( production of basic materials , intermediate products and end products ) can have advantages played a role in the founding . In 1857 he passed the entrepreneurial responsibility to his sons.
Curtius was the first to think about syndicates in the chemical industry. In 1856 the company Matthes & Weber took on a leading role in the "Soda Convention", a cartel of the four largest soda factories in the Lower Rhine region; In 1863 M&W built a second soda factory in Duisburg.
literature
- Albert Mühl: Curtius, Friedrich Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 444 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Rhenish-Westphalian Economic Biographies , Volume 9, p. 13
Web links
- Entry on Goch.de
- The West July 18, 2008 ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
Footnotes
- ^ Francke Foundations in Halle
- ↑ a b c Genealogy
- ↑ Die Zeit October 30, 1952: Pointing the way in chemistry .
- ↑ Chronicle. (No longer available online.) In: LVR. Archived from the original on February 21, 2017 ; accessed on April 14, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Chronicle
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Curtius, Friedrich Wilhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chemical entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 21, 1782 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Goch |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 12, 1862 |
| Place of death | Duisburg |