Hans Rudolf Christians

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Hans Rudolf Christen (2008)

Hans Rudolf Christen (born July 3, 1924 in Bern ; † August 18, 2011 ) was a Swiss chemistry teacher and author of several textbooks on chemistry .

Life

Hans Rudolf Christen grew up as the son of Hermann Christen and his mother Bertha Christen (née Schinz) in Winterthur, where his father was a professor of mathematics, machine drawing and technology at the Winterthur technical center (engineering school) . Christen studied chemistry and botany at the ETH Zurich from 1943 to 1948 , where he graduated with a doctorate (Dr. sc. Nat.) In 1950 . From 1948 he was assistant professor for chemistry at the Kantonsschule Im Lee in Winterthur , until 1951 as a lecturer , afterwards as main teacher and until 1985 as head of department.

In 1965, he took a teaching position for didactics of chemistry teaching at the University of Zurich and received in 1974 appointed to the newly created Department of didactics of chemistry teaching at the University of Tubingen , which he refused 1975th In 1974 Hans Rudolf Christen moved to the ETH with an extended teaching position for chemistry didactics. At the Winterthur canton school he only took half a teaching position. In 1983 he was awarded the title of professor by the ETH Zurich. In 1989 Christians retired.

Literary work

Christen is the author of a large number of high school and college chemistry textbooks that have become standard works . His basic idea was to use modern explanatory theories for chemical reactions instead of a descriptive chemistry and to introduce an orderly model for chemistry lessons. Christen has made lasting contributions to providing chemistry lessons that are both student-friendly and demanding. His introduction to chemistry met with great interest in schools. He is considered a leading chemist of the 20th century.

His textbook Fundamentals of General and Inorganic Chemistry helped the chemistry student to have a good understanding of physico-chemical and inorganic processes, particularly through the easily understandable pre-calculated examples. Briefly and clearly formulated, it contained the most important basic contents without burdening the student with complicated mathematical derivations or extensive detailed knowledge right at the beginning of his studies. The well thought-out table material was also very helpful, so that thermodynamic equilibria, redox equations, pH values, solubility products and increases in boiling point could be calculated quickly.

In 1990 Christen presented his subject didactics in his book Chemistry Lessons. In 1997 he summarized his opinion on the acceptance of chemistry lessons in schools in a polemic .

In addition, Christians were already interested in the plankton from ponds and small lakes as high school teachers . In the period from 1958 to 1963, numerous works on colorless Euglenozoa and other algae emerged from this . Christen devoted himself to the chemistry and biology of the Hausersee near Andelfingen , which has become one of the best-studied small lakes in Switzerland. Numerous new species are also described in this work.

Honors

Fonts (selection)

The editions for Switzerland were published by Verlag Sauerländer , the licensed editions for Germany by Verlag Moritz Diesterweg .

Web links

obituary

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Rudolf Christen: Chemistry - fascinating or a horror subject? For acceptance of chemistry lessons . CHEMKON , 1997, 175-180. doi: 10.1002 / ckon.19970040404 .


personal data
SURNAME Christians, Hans Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christians, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss chemistry teacher
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 2011