Heinrich Bechhold

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Stumbling block for Bechhold in Niederräder Landstr. 46-48, Frankfurt am Main

Heinrich Jakob Bechhold (born November 13, 1866 in Frankfurt am Main ; died February 17, 1937 there ) was a German chemist , known for his work on colloid chemistry in medicine.

Life

Bechhold's father was the Frankfurt bookseller and publisher Heinrich Hirsch Bechhold (1829–1909), who in 1859 was one of the co-founders of the Free German Hochstift . In 1885, Bechhold passed his matriculation examination at the Wöhlerschule .

After attending secondary school, Heinrich Jakob Bechhold studied medicine, physics and chemistry in Freiburg, Strasbourg, Berlin and Heidelberg. In 1889 he received his doctorate in Berlin (contribution to the knowledge of amidophenols). He then traveled to Lapland, Italy, North Africa and Spain. From 1896 he worked as a publicist . In 1897 he founded the weekly newspaper Die Umschau , which he directed until his death. It appeared for the first time on January 21, 1897 with the subtitle "Overview of the advances and movements in the entire field of science, technology, literature and art" in the publishing house that his father had founded (H. Bechhold Verlagbuchhandlung). He wrote hundreds of scientific articles for "Die Umschau" and edited thousands of contributions by others. In 1927 the publishing house was taken over by the Brönner'schen Druckerei, which was later to be renamed "Umschau-Verlag" . The magazine appeared until 1986.

From 1903 Bechhold was a member of Paul Ehrlich's Institute for Experimental Therapy . In 1910 he became professor and head of the biochemical laboratory there. In 1911 his father-in-law Theodor Neubürger founded an institute for colloid research, of which Bechhold became director. During the First World War he produced various vaccines , for example against typhus and cholera . In 1916 he completed his habilitation in Frankfurt in medical physical chemistry. In the German Reich in 1935 his license to teach (he was a non-official associate professor) was declared "expired" due to his Jewish origins (he himself was not a denominational member).

In 1935 he lived in Frankfurt am Main, Niederräder Landstrasse 26. In 1937, Bechhold committed suicide . A stumbling block in Frankfurt-Niederrad in front of the Niederräder Landstrasse 46-48 house reminds of him. The indication of a suicide is controversial. There is probably no (more) source that proves this - but there are numerous publications with biographical references without mentioning a suicide. There is no reference in: "The Jews of the Frankfurt University" by Heuer / Wolf; "The history of Frankfurt's Jews since the French Revolution. Vol. 3" by Arnsberg; "Short biography on the history of the Jews 1918-1945" by Joseph Wald; "New German Biography" by Rolf Jäger; "The Look Around", 1937 (H. 9). On the other hand, in the certificate of the medical investigation from February 18, 1937 in the Gagern Hospital in Frankfurt, there is the note: cause of death sepsis. No suicide is mentioned in the rector's file or the main personnel file of the University of Frankfurt. There is a reference to "suicide" in the "Frankfurter Biographie" (first volume, 1994) - but without a single source and in "The Expulsion of Scientists from German Universities 1933-1945" by Michael Grüttner and Sven Kinas. In this work the two university files mentioned above are named as sources, which do not provide any information and a folder "Institute for Colloid Research (1921-1970)" from the Frankfurt Institute for the History of Medicine, which can no longer be found.

Bechhold was married to Johanna Neubürger since 1896. The couple remained childless. His wife left Germany in 1938 and settled in Switzerland Lower

Scientific work

In 1907 he invented ultrafiltration and in 1925 electro-ultrafiltration. He also invented germ-proof filters (1926) and a disinfection process via adsorption . In 1931 he published a paper on how the size of viruses could be determined with centrifugation. He had many students who founded comparable institutes all over the world, while his institute in Germany remained the only such institute (colloid research in medicine) for a long time. In 1899 he showed that fat waste is broken down by microorganisms in sewage treatment plants.

Honors and memberships

In 1930 he received the Laura R. Leonard Prize of the Colloid Society . In 1932 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . He was a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Zaragossa.

Works (selection)

  • Contributions to the knowledge of the amidophenols . Max Bading's printing press, Berlin 1889 (dissertation).
  • The colloids in biology and medicine, Dresden: Steinkopff 1911, 5th edition 1929 (the book was also translated into English)
  • Editor: Handlexikon der Naturwissenschaften und Medizin, 2 volumes, Frankfurt 1919, 1923

literature

Web links

Commons : Jakob Bechhold  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Entry Heinrich Bechhold in Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie , KG Saur
  2. ↑ a b Michael Grüttner, Sven Kinas, The Expulsion of Scientists from German Universities 1933–1945, Quarterly Issues for Contemporary History, Volume 55, 2007, Issue 1, p. 163
personal data
SURNAME Bechhold, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bechhold, Heinrich Jakob (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH February 17, 1937
Place of death Frankfurt am Main