Johann Christian Wiegleb

Johann Christian Wiegleb, engraving by Johann Conrad Krüger (1780)

Johann Christian Wiegleb (born December 21, 1732 in Langensalza ; † January 16, 1800 ibid) was a German naturalist and pharmacist. He made significant contributions to the development of chemistry and pharmacy into modern science.

Life

Wiegleb, the son of a lawyer, first attended school in Langensalza and then learned the profession of pharmacist from 1748 to 1754 in Dresden . He then worked from 1754 to 1755 as an assistant in the court pharmacy in Quedlinburg , from where he returned to Langensalza and opened his own pharmacy there in 1759, which he managed until 1796. In addition, he served as a senator and later as city treasurer of the general public affairs of the city of Langensalza.

Wiegleb was an influential scientist in the Age of Enlightenment and a member of the Kurmainzische Academy of Useful Sciences and the Leopoldina . He had extensive historical and philosophical knowledge as well as versatile language skills, which is why he also worked as an author, editor and translator. In addition to pharmacy, he dealt with chemical investigations, which he published in Lorenz von Crell's “Chemisches Journal”. He made a name for himself as a chemist as well as a manufacturer of chemical products. In 1779 he founded a chemical-pharmaceutical institute in Langensalza, the first private institution of its kind in Germany, with which he paved the way for an academic training as a pharmacist. Two of his students, Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt and Johann Friedrich August Göttling , later also founded chemical-pharmaceutical schools based on Wiegleb's model.

His name is linked to the discovery of oxalic acid (1779), as clover acid. It turned out to be identical to the sugar acid discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1784 . Wiegleb studied minerals and rocks such as horn shale (which according to him consisted of silicon, lime, magnesium and iron), the formation of saltpetre in walls and the formation of silica from the reaction of hydrofluoric acid with glass. He fought alchemy and its belief in metal transformations, behind which, according to Wiegleb, there were color changes, and especially goldmaking with the help of alchemy. In 1774 he realized that alkali in plant ash was already present in the plant before it was burned. At the end of his life he became a supporter of the phlogiston theory.

Honors

In 1776 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

Writings and works

• Chemical experiments on the alkaline salts. Berlin 1774. Digitized edition of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt , Halle (Saale).
• New concept of fermentation. Weimar 1776.
• Historical-critical investigation of alchemy or the imagined art of goldmaking, of its origin as well as progress, and what is to be thought of it. Weimar 1777. Digitized edition of the Dresden State and University Library .
• Onomatologia curiosa, artificiosa et magica, or natural magic lexicon, in which many useful and pleasant things from natural history, natural science and natural magic are presented in alphabetical order . - 3rd edition / improved and increased with many new additions by Johann Christian Wiegleb. Rasp, Nuremberg 1784 Digitized edition .
• Handbook of General Chemistry . 2nd, revised edition. Nicolai, Berlin 1786. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • part 1
  • Volume 2
• Revision of the basic tenets of the chemical relationship of the bodies . Crell's Annals 1785.
• Doctrine of the phlogiston . Crell's Annals 1785.
• History of the growth and inventions in chemistry in recent times . Berlin 1790. Digitized edition of the Bavarian State Library .
• German pharmacist's book: based on new and correct knowledge in pharmacology and pharmacy, edited volume 2 . Ettinger, Gotha 1793. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • part 1
  • Volume 2
• German pharmacist book: according to new and correct knowledge in pharmacology and pharmacy . 2 volumes, Ettinger, Gotha 1797. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .
  • part 1
  • Volume 2
• Remedia sympathetica: this is a collection of the most tried and tested and sympathetic, antipathetic and spagyric remedies and magic powers against diseases of humans and animals, against bewitching and the anthun of evil people, against all kinds of vices, as drink and play, for mutual tenderness between spouses, various hunting skills resist harmful animals, etc custody means resist cut and thrust . Baltimore et al., Approx. 1840 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf .

literature

• Carl Oppenheimer :  Wiegleb, Johann Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, p. 390.
• Winfried Pötsch et al. Lexicon of important chemists . Harri Deutsch, 1989
• Achim M. Klosa: Johann Christian Wiegleb (1732–1800) An Ergobiography of the Enlightenment. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8047-2529-4 .

Web links

Commons : Johann Christian Wiegleb  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Johann Christian Wiegleb  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Johann Christian Wiegleb in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biographical summary of the city of Bad Langensalza

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biographical summary at the city of Bad Langensalza ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the city of Bad Langensalza. Retrieved February 2, 2015.  
2. ↑ Wolfgang-Hagen Heim, Holm-Dietmar Schwarz: German pharmacist biography. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1978, (Publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy eV; NF, Volume 46, Volume II, MZ), ISBN 3-8047-0530-4 , p. 743.
3. ↑ Wolfgang-Hagen Heim, Holm-Dietmar Schwarz: German Pharmacist Biography Supplementary Volume II. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1997, (Publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy eV; NF, Volume 60), ISBN 3-8047-1565-6 , P. 380.
4. ↑ Wolfgang-Hagen Heim, Holm-Dietmar Schwarz: German pharmacist biography. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1978, (Publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy eV; NF, Volume 46, Volume II, MZ), ISBN 3-8047-0530-4 , p. 743.
5. ↑ Wolfgang-Hagen Heim, Holm-Dietmar Schwarz: German pharmacist biography. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1978, (Publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy eV; NF, Volume 46, Volume II, MZ), ISBN 3-8047-0530-4 , p. 743.
6. ↑ Biographical summary at the city of Bad Langensalza ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the city of Bad Langensalza. Retrieved February 2, 2015.  
7. ↑ Wolfgang-Hagen Heim, Holm-Dietmar Schwarz: German pharmacist biography. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1978, (Publications of the International Society for the History of Pharmacy eV; NF, Volume 46, Volume II, MZ), ISBN 3-8047-0530-4 , p. 743.
8. ^ List of members Leopoldina, Johann Christian Wiegleb