Hermann Kopp (chemist)

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Hermann Kopp

Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp (born October 30, 1817 in Hanau ; † February 20, 1892 in Heidelberg ) was a German chemist and is considered one of the first historians of chemistry.

Life

Hermann Kopp was born as the son of the personal physician of the Hessian Grand Duke, Johann Heinrich Kopp . One of his uncle was the later Hessian Minister Karl Wilhelm von Kopp .

Kopp attended the high school in his hometown and through his father, who occasionally occupied himself with experimental chemistry and mineralogy, probably had contact with the natural sciences at an early age. At the age of 18 he went to Heidelberg , where he studied chemistry under Gmelin and physics under Munke . He then moved to Marburg , where he was in 1838 with a dissertation on De oxydorum densitatis calculo reperiendae modo doctorate . In 1839 he entered Liebig's laboratory in Gießen and completed his habilitation there in 1841. After two years as a private lecturer, he was appointed professor of physics and chemistry there in 1843. In 1864 he followed a call to Heidelberg University , where he distinguished himself particularly in researching the relationships between the physical properties and the composition of chemical compounds as well as in the history of chemistry. Despite several calls from Berlin and Leipzig, he stayed in Heidelberg until his death in 1892. On December 10, 1861 ( registration number 1962 ) he was elected a member of the Leopoldina with the surname Doebereiner . From 1855 he was a member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences , from 1867 a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and from 1888 a foreign member of the Royal Society .

Create

Under Liebig's direction he studied the decomposition of thiols by nitric acid in Giessen , which was to remain his only purely chemical publication.

The Development of Chemistry in Modern Times , Munich 1871–1873

His main work is the history of chemistry , to which he later published the articles on the history of chemistry as a supplement . The history of chemistry appeared in four volumes in the years 1843–1847. Kopp published the first volume just two years after his habilitation at the age of 26. The immense amount of work that was necessary to sift through and compile the sources suggests that Kopp had already started his work when he was a student. From 1847 with Liebig and with Heinrich Will from 1857 to 1862 he published the annual report on the progress of chemistry, physics, mineralogy and geology and edited the Annals of Chemistry and Pharmacy 1851 (Volume 77) with Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler until his death in 1892 .

In 1880 he was elected to the board of the German Chemical Society in Berlin for one year .

He also published numerous papers on theoretical chemistry and carried out basic research in many areas of the then still young physical chemistry. Much of his work dealt with the specific volume , a topic on which Kopp published at the age of 22. Another area of ​​research was the relationship between boiling points and the composition of (mostly organic) compounds; so says z. B. the Kopp boiling point rule named after him that the boiling point of unbranched alkanes increases by approx. 18 ° C with every methylene group incorporated .

In addition, he dealt with the relationships between molecular masses, relative densities and specific heat capacities as well as the relationship between crystalline form and chemical composition and the specific volume of chemical compounds. Kopp also published in this area, e.g. B. with Heinrich Buff the textbook of physical and theoretical chemistry in 1857.

Fonts

  • History of chemistry. 4 vol., Braunschweig 1843–1847; Reprint Hildesheim 1966.
  • Introduction to crystallography and the crystallographic knowledge of the more important substances. Braunschweig 1849 (with atlas); 2nd ed. 1862 Textband Archive , Tafelband Archive
  • Contributions to the history of chemistry. 3 parts, Braunschweig 1869–1875
  • The development of chemistry in recent times. 2 parts, Munich 1871–1873
  • Aurea catena Homeri. Friedrich Vieweg and son , Braunschweig 1880 Archives
  • Alchemy in ancient and modern times. A contribution to cultural history. 2 volumes, C. Winter , Heidelberg 1886; Reprint 1971
  • together with Heinrich Buff and Friedrich Zamminer : Textbook of physical and theoretical chemistry. Braunschweig 1857, 2nd edition 1863
  • Something about weather information. Brunswick 1879

literature

  • Georg Bredig :  Kopp, Hermann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 55, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1910, pp. 820-826.
  • August Wilhelm von Hofmann : Meeting of February 22, 1892 , in: Reports of the German Chemical Society 25 (1892), 1, pp. 505-523.
  • Dietrich Georg von Kieser (ed.): Leopoldina . Official organ of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists. 3rd issue. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1861, p. 2 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
  • Karl Siebert: Hanauer biographies from three centuries. Hanauer Geschichtsverein 1844 eV, Hanau 1919 (= Hanauer Geschichtsblätter NF 3/4 ), pp. 109–111.
  • Max Speter : "Father Kopp". Bio-, Biblio- and Psychographisches by and about Hermann Kopp (1817-1892) . In: Osiris 5 (1938), pp. 392-460.
  • Willi Ule : History of the Imperial Leopoldine-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the years 1852–1887 . With a look back at the earlier times of its existence. In commission at Wilh. Engelmann in Leipzig, Halle 1889, supplements and additions to Neigebaur's history, p. 194 ( archive.org ).
  • Heinz Walter:  Kopp, Hermann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 567 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Jost Weyer : New conceptions of chemical historiography in the 19th century: Trommsdorff, Hoefer and Kopp. In: Rete , Volume 1, Issue 1, 1971, pp. 33-50 and 44-50.

Web links

Commons : Hermann Kopp  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Hermann Kopp  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Published article by Johann Kopps in Karl Cäsar von Leonhard's pocket book for the entire mineralogy , 1807–1829.
  2. ^ Member entry of Hermann Franz Moritz Kopp at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on November 25, 2015.
  3. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 137.
  4. ^ Entry on Kopp, Hermann (1817-1892) in the archive of the Royal Society , London
  5. ^ Kopp Memorial Lecture by TE Thrope in Journal of the Chemical Society , Transactions, 63 775-815, 1893.
  6. ^ Hermann Kopp, Historiker der Chemie von Ruska in Journal of Chemical Education , pp. 4, 14 (1) 3, translated in 1937 by Ralph E. Oesper.
personal data
SURNAME Kopp, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kopp, Hermann Franz Moritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and chemical historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanau
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1892
Place of death Heidelberg