Gustaf Erik Pasch

Gustaf Erik Pasch (born September 3, 1788 in Norrköping ; † September 6, 1862 there ) was a Swedish chemist , doctor and inventor who made a decisive contribution to the development of the safety match. Pasch's real name was Berggren, but in 1806 he took over the name of his stepfather, who was a brother of the painter Johan Pasch .

Life

Pasch studied in Uppsala from 1806 , served from 1808 to 1810 in the home army as an assistant doctor in the hospital in Örebro and then worked as a teacher in Östergötland and Stockholm . He continued his own studies under Jöns Jakob Berzelius . In 1817, Pasch took part in the construction of the Göta Canal as a chemical and technical advisory board . A year later he started as an adjunct (comparable to a junior professor) at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and in 1823 he received a position as lecturer at the Science Academy and the title of professor. He became an elected member of the Science and Agriculture Academy. Pasch ended his activity at the Karolinska Institute in 1823 and in 1851 he was retired from his duties at the Science Academy.

Act

From 1824 to 1849, Pasch wrote the annual reports for the Science Academy on all technological inventions within this society. As a member of the Swedish Society for Silkworm Breeding , he wrote their annual papers from 1846 to 1861.

In 1830 Charles Saura introduced matches with white phosphorus , which was very harmful to health, especially for the workers who made them. They also got infected easily. The properties of red phosphorus, which is much safer than white phosphorus (which was formed, for example, when white phosphorus was exposed to light for a long time), was already discovered by Pasch Berzelius' teacher. Pasch developed safety matches by moving the phosphorus from the match head to a special striking surface and he also replaced white with red phosphorus. In 1844 he received the patent (privilege) for his new variant of the match. Production started at the J. S. Bagge company in Stockholm. But he had problems producing red phosphorus cheaply and his matches were therefore expensive and initially unsuccessful. His invention was further developed by the German chemist Rudolf Christian Böttger and by the factory owner brothers Lundström , who were honored with it at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855 and were internationally successful.

Because of his knowledge of the production of paper, which was particularly suitable for banknotes that he had acquired on a study trip through France , he was commissioned by the Swedish Reichsbank to produce sample notes. The results were in use between 1830 and 1850.

literature

• Gustaf Erik Pasch . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 21 : Papua – Posselt . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1915, Sp. 170 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

• Entry in History of Matches