Heinrich Will (chemist)

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Heinrich Will (born  December 8, 1812 in Weinheim , †  December 15, 1890 in Gießen ) was a German chemist . He worked as the successor to Justus von Liebig from 1853 to 1882 as a professor at the University of Giessen and became known together with Franz Varrentrapp through the development of the Will-Varrentrapp method for the quantitative determination of nitrogen .

Life

Heinrich Will was born in Weinheim in 1812 and lost his father, who was a civil servant, when he was a child. The director of the Latin school in Weinheim, where he also graduated from school, became his foster father. He then completed his apprenticeship as a pharmacist in Gernsbach from 1827 to 1831 , but after several years of study hike and work as a pharmacy assistant in various cities, he began studying natural sciences at Heidelberg University from 1834 . At this he worked from 1835 as an assistant at the chemical laboratory under Philipp Lorenz Geiger and after his death from 1836 under Leopold Gmelin . In 1837, at the request of Justus von Liebig , who had been close friends with Geiger, he moved to the University of Giessen , where he also received his doctorate in May 1839 .

In 1842 he took over the management of the newly established branch laboratory, which had been created for student training due to the increasing number of chemistry students at Giessen University. Two years later he received his habilitation and was appointed private lecturer . The habilitation work was waived because he had already adequately proven his teaching qualification according to the ministerial order. In 1845 he was appointed associate professor. After Liebig's move to the University of Munich in 1852, he initially took over provisional management of the chemical laboratory at the University of Giessen together with Hermann Kopp . In 1853 he was appointed full professor of experimental chemistry and, at Kopp's instigation, was appointed sole director of the laboratory. He held this position until his retirement in October 1882. From 1869 to 1870 he also served as the rector of the university.

From 1849 Heinrich Will was married to the daughter of the Gießen physician Wilhelm Balser . His son Wilhelm Will , born in 1854 , later became a professor of chemistry in Berlin and was a member of the Leopoldina from 1888 . In addition, he had four daughters, of whom Sophie Will, born in 1850, married the physicist Karl Zöppritz and Tilde Will, born in 1855, married the ophthalmologist Hubert Sattler . He died in Giessen in 1890.

Scientific work

From 1857 to 1868, including from 1857 to 1862 together with Hermann Kopp, Heinrich Will published the annual reports on the progress of chemistry and related parts of other sciences . He also published studies on phytonutrients such as chelidonin , mustard oil and the essential oil of rue, as well as instructions and tables for chemical analysis , which have been reprinted several times and translated into several other languages. Together with Franz Varrentrapp , he developed a method known as the Will-Varrentrapp method for the quantitative determination of nitrogen in organic samples. He was also a co-discoverer of styphnic acid .

Awards and recognition

Heinrich Will's awards and honors included the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Louis and the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Merit as well as honorary membership in the Chemical Society of London . He was also accepted as a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and as a foreign member of the Spanish Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales and the Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino (Royal Academy of Sciences in Turin).

Heinrich Will made a particular contribution as a university lecturer. Several of his students, such as August Kekulé , Wilhelm Lossen , Theodor Poleck , Jacob Volhard , Emil Erlenmeyer , Heinrich Meidinger and Alexander Classen , were appointed professors at various universities and technical colleges. The brothers Carl Clemm and August von Clemm , co-founders of the BASF company , also studied under Heinrich Will. His most important and most influential contribution to the development of chemistry is the establishment of the Will-Varrentrapp method for nitrogen analysis.

Works (selection)

  • Instructions for qualitative chemical analysis for use in the chemical laboratory for casting. First edition, Heidelberg 1846; Twelfth edition, 1883
  • Outlines of Chemical Analysis. Translated from the Third German Edition. Boston and Cambridge 1855
  • A Handbook of Chemical Analysis. Based on the Fourth Edition of Dr. H. Will's Guide to Chemical Analysis. London 1858
  • Chemical analysis boards. First edition, Heidelberg 1846; Tenth edition, 1875
  • Tables for Qualitative Chemical Analysis. Translated from the Second German Edition. Philadelphia 1852

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Will, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH December 8, 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH Weinheim
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1890
Place of death to water