Johann Georg Anton Geuther

Johann Georg Anton Geuther (born April 23, 1833 in Neustadt bei Coburg , † August 23, 1889 in Jena ) was a German chemist .

Life

His father, Christian Friedrich Geuther, was a master weaver, brewer and farmer and was a member of the council in his hometown. Johann Georg Anton Geuther should also become a weaver according to the wishes of his parents and from Easter 1846 attended the city school of his hometown. In the fall of 1846 he switched to secondary school in Saalfeld an der Saale . After graduating from secondary school in Coburg , he began studying natural sciences in Jena at Easter 1852 , where Matthias Jacob Schleiden and Heinrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Wackenroder became his formative teachers. In the summer semester of 1853 Geuther moved to Göttingen to join Friedrich Wöhler and Wilhelm Weber and was in Berlin in the winter semester of 1853/54 . Returning to Göttingen at Easter 1854, he received his doctorate on August 3, 1855 with a treatise on the Torbane-Hill mineral , became Wöhler's assistant and completed his habilitation in the winter semester of 1857/58 with a thesis on the true constitution of certain compounds of apparently abnormal composition as a private lecturer.

In 1862 Geuther was appointed associate professor in Göttingen and on April 27, 1863 as full professor of chemistry at the University of Jena . With this he became director of the chemical university laboratories in Jena. In addition, he participated in the organizational tasks of the Salana. He was dean of the philosophical faculty several times and became rector of the alma mater in the summer semesters of 1865, 1874, and 1884 . In 1873 he received the title of Hofrat of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach and in 1878 that of a secret Hofrat. His students included Hermann Thoms , Hans Huebner , August Michaelis and Carl Duisberg . His main literary work is the chemistry textbook .

He mainly devoted himself to organic compounds. He researched the constitution of various double bonds and discovered the reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline . Around 1856 he succeeded in separating chromium from chromic acid electrolytes . In 1862 he and Friedrich Briegleb described the production of aluminum nitride and magnesium nitride . In 1863 he developed a synthesis of acetoacetic ester and produced nitrosamines . Around 1866 he and Johann Gustav Stickel developed a special method for cleaning lead seals. In his 1870 chemistry textbook , he developed his own theory of valence. He became an honorary member of the Chemical Society in London. On November 24, 1873, Geuther was elected a member of the Leopoldina , in 1888 he received the Order of Merit for Art and Science from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen (November 3, 1860 assessor, December 7, 1867 correspondent and December 9, 1882 foreign member). He published many articles in Liebig's Annalen der Chemie and in the Jenaische Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaften.

Geuther married Amalie Agnes Sindram in 1863. A son and a daughter result from the marriage.

literature

• Carl Duisberg , Kurt Hess : Anton Geuther - His life and work. In: Reports of the German Chemical Society (A and B Series) 63, 8, pp. A145 – A157, September 17, 1930. doi: 10.1002 / cber.19300630881
• Berend Strahlmann:  Geuther, Johann Georg Anton. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 353 f. ( Digitized version ).
• CH garlic: Leopoldina. Official organ of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolin German Academy of Natural Scientists. Halle (Saale), 1894, issue XXX no. 3–4, p. 114
• G. Krause: Chemiker-Zeitung. Central organ for chemists, technicians, manufacturers, pharmacists, engineers. Köthen August 28, 1889, vol. XIII, no.69

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thomas Pester: The Rectors / Vice Rectors of the University of Jena 1548 / 49-2014. ( Memento of the original from June 3, 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. Accessed August 30, 2017 (PDF; 202 kB). 
2. ^ Anton Geuther: Electrolytic experiments . In: Justus Liebig's Annals of Chemistry . tape 99 , no. 3 , 1856, pp. 314-333 , doi : 10.1002 / jlac.18560990306 .
3. ↑ S. Heidemann, C. Sode: Christian-oriental lead seals in the oriental coin cabinet Jena . In: ARAM Periodical . tape 12 , 2000, pp. 533-593 , doi : 10.2143 / ARAM.12.0.504488 ( PDF ).
4. ↑ 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. 92.