Johann Andreas Cramer (Metallurgist)

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Johann Andreas Cramer (born December 14, 1710 in Quedlinburg , † December 6, 1777 in Berggießhübel near Dresden) was a German metallurgist.

Live and act

Cramer first studied medicine and law in Halle and later natural sciences in Helmstedt . He was particularly interested in chemistry, especially the separation of metals and the manufacture of preparations, in which he mastered it. In essence, he was a self-taught loner.

In 1738 he became professor of physics and chemistry at the University of Leiden . Here he was in contact with the mineralogist Isaac Lawson . Cramer traveled a lot and, due to his great rhetorical skills, gave well-attended lectures on docimasia in Leyden and Leipzig.

After his appointment to the University of London was rejected, Cramer entered the service of Brunswick as a chamber councilor in Blankenburg in 1743 . In the area around Blankenburg, including in Hüttenrode , intensive mining of iron ore , limestone and sandstone was carried out at the beginning of the 18th century . In his function as Chamber Councilor, Cramer was also responsible for mining and metallurgy, which he fundamentally reorganized. In addition, he worked as director of the Münzkollegium.

In his laboratory in a wing of the Blankenburg Castle he undertook sensational alchemical experiments, but basically Cramer was one of those researchers who gradually broke away from alchemy and relied exclusively on " precise observations and thorough experiments ". In 1744 he discovered that when borax is heated, borate glass is formed.

In 1766 he recognized the fact " Among those things necessary for comfort, indeed for the highest need of human life, there is none that can make wood the first priority ." But the danger of lack of wood should not be misunderstood, because: " The lack almost every need can be largely replaced by others, although not entirely; the lack of wood by nothing. Where this does not exist or is brought from other countries, there is an uninhabitable desert ”.

In contrast to Cramer's pioneering metallurgical research, however, was his private life, in which he did not adhere to any rules and also disregarded the forms of his status and profession. His rough manners and his " coarseness " have been criticized repeatedly. As head of the Münzkollegium he neglected the accounting department to such an extent that he had to give up his position in Blankenburg in 1773.

As a metallurgical expert, he then traveled through Europe and finally settled in the mountain town of Berggießhübel in the Eastern Ore Mountains . Cramer died here in 1777. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , also from Quedlinburg, thought he was a genius.

Works

  • Docimasia ; Leyden, 1736
  • Elementa artis docimaticae ; 1739; 1741 in English; 1746 in German (The beginnings of the art of tasting, translated by Christlieb Ehregott Gellert , Stockholm 1746) and 1758 in French ( Volume 1 online )
  • Instructions for forest beings ; 1766 ( MV digital library )
  • Origins of metallurgy; in it the operations, both small and large, are described in detail and with clear reasons and explanations. ; Part 1–3 in 2 volumes; Blankenburg / Quedlinburg, Reussner, 1774–1777

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm von Gümbel:  Cramer, Johann Andreas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 549 f.
  2. ↑ Cramer: Elements of the art of assaying metals , p. 3
  3. ^ Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Horst Gronemeyer, Adolf Beck: Works and Letters: historical-critical edition , Volume 4, p. 591
  4. ↑ Analysis with the soldering tube
  5. ↑ BURKHARD DIETZ Economic growth and lack of wood in the Bergisch-Märkisch commercial area before industrialization ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
personal data
SURNAME Cramer, Johann Andreas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German metallurgist
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1710
PLACE OF BIRTH Quedlinburg
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1777
Place of death Berggießhübel near Dresden