Georg Lung

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Georg Lung

Georg Lunge (born September 15, 1839 in Breslau , † January 3, 1923 in Zurich ) was a German chemist .

Life

The father, Heinrich Lunge, was a businessman; In 1848 he sent his son Georg to the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau , which he left in 1856 - only 16½ years old - with the Abitur . Georg Lunge then studied chemistry under Carl Löwig at the University of Breslau . He received his doctorate in 1859 under the supervision of Ferdinand Cohn on the subject of De fermentatione alcoholica , and then continued his studies in Heidelberg under Robert Bunsen . Back in Silesia , he devoted himself to tasks in the rapidly growing chemical industry in 1860 . In order to gain further experience, he went to England in 1864 . He became the director of a newly established soda factory near Newcastle . He married the factory owner's daughter in 1869 and divorced in 1895. From this connection came three sons and three daughters. Between 1876 and 1907 Lunge was professor of technical chemistry at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich. There he taught dyeing, bleaching, building materials, ceramics, glass, and metallurgy. Lunge was still scientifically active until 1916.

Services

The industrial production of soda with all its usable by-products developed into the key industry of large-scale inorganic chemistry . The technical manufacture of soda became the great task of Lunge research. Lunge made a name for himself as a technical chemist with a series of articles in English and German journals. In 1876 - with the support of Heinrich Caro  - he accepted the call to professor for technical chemistry at the ETH Zurich . Lunge dealt with technical processes as well as analyzes in numerous articles. Lunge and co-workers investigated the industrial production of the important acids sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Lunge also developed a process (freezing out) for the production of concentrated sulfuric acid, but this was soon replaced in technology by the contact process .

The 1918 Nobel Prize winner for chemistry , Fritz Haber , worked at ETH Zurich as his assistant. Lunge's long-time assistant Karl Heumann (1850–1894) began his research on the synthesis of indigo at Lunge .

As an important author, Lunge enriched the scientific literature with many standard works. With his treatises on the industry of coal tar and ammonia , distillation of coal tar and sulfuric acid and alkali , he established his position as the highest authority in this field. Other important books were Das Handbuch der Sodaindustrie , a pocket book for large chemical industries . A bibliography of his publications names almost 700 titles. Chemical-technical investigation methods to which he contributed received confirmation from his investigations into technical analysis.

According to him, Lunges reagent designated a detection agent in inorganic analysis for nitrite and nitrate. In the process engineering analysis he led methyl orange (previously was only litmus been used) as an indicator for the Alkalimetry one. Lunge checked the concentrations of acids, alkalis and salt solutions in technology by measuring the density with a hydrometer , his very precise tables were later used by chemists as an important resource. For many substance analyzes (nitrates, carbonates, hydrogen peroxide) he also developed gas volumetric methods ( Lunge gas volumeter ).

In a chemical-technical internship he developed at the ETH Zurich, the link between research and practice was established. Lunge had found a partner in the pottery manufacturer, Kommerzienrat Ludwig Rohrmann in Krauschwitz (Upper Lusatia) , who could manufacture the equipment and containers suitable for his research. Rohrmann has been producing acid-resistant stoneware for the chemical industry in his pottery factory since around 1880 and has repeatedly received awards for this at industrial exhibitions. The two developed and patented the Lunge-Rohrmann plate tower, for example .

In 1907 Georg Lunge retired. On the occasion of his 70th birthday, he established a foundation in Zurich that bears his name and whose task is to promote talented chemical engineers. In 1888 Lunge was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1918, Lunge received an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt .

His grave is in the south-west cemetery Stahnsdorf .

Works (selection)

  • The distillation of the coal tar and the processing of the related by-products . Vieweg, Braunschweig 1867
  • Handbook of the Soda Industry and its Subsidiaries. 2 volumes. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1879
  • Paperback for the soda, potash and ammonia production. Edited on behalf of the Association of German Sodafabrikanten and with the participation of Commission members Ignatz Stroof u. a. Springer, Berlin 1883-

literature

Web links

Commons : Georg Lunge  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biographical data, publications and academic family tree of Georg Lunge at academictree.org, accessed on January 1, 2019.
  2. ^ S. Ebel and HJ Roth (editors): Lexikon der Pharmazie , Georg Thieme Verlag, 1987, p. 405, ISBN 3-13-672201-9 .
personal data
SURNAME Lungs, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH September 15, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1923
Place of death Zurich