Johannes Kunckel

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Johannes Kunckel

Johannes Kunckel , also written in Kunkel (* around 1630 in Wittenberg near Plön ; † March 20, 1703 ), was a German alchemist and successful glassmaker . From the Swedish king Karl XI. he was ennobled under the name extension to Johann Kunckel von Löwenstern .

Historical background

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The economic development in the 16th to 18th centuries finally made gold and money an indispensable aid for cross-local and cross-border trade and, in addition to property ownership, the yardstick for poverty or wealth. Thus the interest of the rulers in alchemy increased, they saw in it a simple way to raise the funds for growing government expenditures and lavish court keeping. Alchemy, a borderline activity between scientific research and charlatanry , seemed to offer a way to procure any desired amount of money by transmutation (conversion) of base metals into such as gold and silver. Even the serious researchers among the alchemists believed in principle in this possibility. And even an enlightened ruler like Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great) still spent large sums on such attempts around 1750. While the high-ranking clients were either deliberately deceived or at least disappointed in their hopes for cheap gold, the work of the alchemists often led to unexpected technological advances, for example in metallurgy , dyeing, and the manufacture of glass and porcelain. Processes for the production of sulfuric acid , ammonia and Berlin blue (a deep blue synthetic pigment) go back to it. The famous chemist Justus von Liebig wrote in 1865: "Among the alchemists there was always a core of genuine naturalists who often deceived themselves in their theoretical views, while the traveling gold chefs deceived themselves and others". Liebig named three names of such “real naturalists”, including that of Johannes Kunckel. Their achievements could be “equated with the greatest discoveries of our century”.

Life

First stations

Johannes Kunckel was born in Wittenberg near Plön. Various sources name the years of birth 1620, 1630 and 1638. Kunckel, whose father was an alchemist and glassworker , initially dealt with pharmacy and chemistry. From 1659 he was an alchemist and pharmacist at the court of the Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg , with the title of valet, as is customary for such posts. He made experiments on the deposition of metals and experimented intensively with phosphorus , a substance that was particularly topical at the time. While traveling, including to Venice with Murano , the European center of high-quality glass production, he acquired his first knowledge of this field.

Around 1670, Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony appointed him to his court in Dresden and appointed him his "secret valet and Chymico our secret laboratory". The promised salary of 1000 thalers a year, which was very considerable for that time, allows the conclusion that the elector saw a gold maker in Kunckel. He also worked on the problem of the transmutation of metals, but nothing is known to have made any concrete promises. On May 30, 1676, he enrolled at the University of Wittenberg , where he stayed for two years. When he reminded his outstanding salary in 1677, the elector's answer is said to have been: "If Kunckel can make gold, he doesn't need any money, if he can't, why should he be given money?"

Glassmaker in Brandenburg

Title page of the "Ars vitraria ..." from 1743

Kunckel was freed from his difficult situation in Saxony by an offer from Brandenburg : he should demonstrate his experiments with phosphorus to the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (called the Great Elector). In this area the alchemist was not entirely correct; he took unfounded claim to have "invented" the synthesis route (but Hennig Brand discovered it in Hamburg, from whom he coaxed the invention similarly to another luminescent substance from the Saxon alchemist Christian Adolf Balduin ) 4 brought the nickname Kunckel'scher phosphorus . The detailed discussions with the technically and scientifically interested elector were very satisfactory. Eventually Kunckel got a job as a secret valet with an annual salary of 500 thalers. For his employer, he supplied all sorts of interesting little things, equipment for physical experiments and chemical test arrangements.

The real reason for his obligation, however, was evidently his knowledge of the field of glass production. At that time Brandenburg tried to mitigate the still noticeable consequences of the Thirty Years War with a targeted economic policy : local raw materials were to be processed in the country, as many finished products as possible were to be exported , and costly imports were to be avoided if possible. By the end of the 1670s, the Great Elector had generally promoted domestic glass production based on this model, which could fall back on suitable raw materials in Brandenburg, also through appropriate import bans. The focus should now be on high-quality glass, which promised greater export earnings. Until then, only one of four glassworks was suitable for this purpose - crystal glass could be produced in part of the Potsdam-Drewitzer Hütte .

The gold ruby ​​glass beaker with the lid, owned by the Wittelsbach family, is traditionally attributed to Johannes Kunckel. The cup is in the treasury of the Munich Residence issued

In 1678 Johann Kunckel was appointed head of this part of the company. In 1679, another crystal glassworks began production on Hakendamm in Potsdam , also under Kunckel's direction; as a result, he became a partner and finally a tenant there . A successful product of the hut were colored glass beads, so-called "corals", which were used by the Brandenburg Guinea ´schen Compagnie for bartering in African bases. During this phase, Kunckel also succeeded in technologically developing the production of gold ruby ​​glass , which was already known in principle, in such a way that sensible commercial production became possible. As a result, he won a glass that was in demand as a luxury item in Brandenburg and highly suitable for export.

Also in 1679 he published his book "Ars Vitraria Experimentalis or perfect glassmaking art". He translated and edited the few specialist literature that existed until then and summarized everything he knew about the topic in his work - his own experiences as well as those of other glassmakers from all over Europe. It is largely based on the translation of L 'arte vetraria distineta in libri sette (1612) by Antonius Neri . The book was the first of its kind in the German-speaking area and influenced European glassmaking as a standard work in the following hundred years.

The elector was so satisfied with Kunckel's work that he gave him today's Pfaueninsel (then: Pfauenwerder) in 1685 . The deed of gift of October 27th transferred the whole island to him "hereditary and peculiar" , exempted him and his employees from all duties and services, allowed them to brew, bake and burn brandy and to build a windmill so that they could grind and could grind; so his people did not have to leave the island. This facilitated the secrecy of all activities planned on the island. However, the remote location also provided protection against the high fire hazard that glassworks posed at the time. Kunckel had a new hut built in the northeast of the island and experimented with special ovens to determine the best efficiency. He developed a ruby ​​glass of special luminosity and perfected its production. Successful experiments with metal oxides led to the production of colored decorative and utility glasses. But it was also possible to produce an improved clear glass mass that was easy to work with and was not inferior to the quality of Bohemian products. Märkisches Glas achieved a good national reputation as church window glass, for example, and exports rose significantly.

Entering or leaving the island was made a criminal offense. Kunckel himself was exempt from the ban; he still managed the crystal glassworks in Potsdam, where he now also had ruby ​​glass made, and owned a house on Berlin's Klosterstrasse. Since the elector had granted him a nationwide monopoly for the manufacture and sale of ruby ​​glass, Kunckel had become wealthy relatively quickly. Of course, the elector also had access to the island. He was often brought over by boat from nearby Potsdam, often for many hours, to examine the progress of his alchemist and glassmaker and to experiment himself. The farmers around and the residents of Potsdam found the black smoke and the intense smells of chemicals from the island, also the strict secrecy, scary or suspicious, at least they suspected gold-making, but also sinister witchcraft .

Last years

Memorial stone for Johannes Kunckel on Pfaueninsel

In 1688, Kunckel's patron, the Great Elector, died. He had not only supported the production of high-quality glass for economic reasons, but also out of the joy of beautiful things - and, as he is supposed to have said, with financial means that he had previously wasted on the gaming table and on fireworks. His successor withdrew all support from the glassmaker. When Kunckel was asked by the councils of the new elector about the usefulness of his costly activities, he replied: “The most gracious lord elector was a lover of rare and curious things and was happy when something was achieved that was beautiful and delicate . I cannot answer this question what was the use of this ”.

Years of trial on charges of embezzlement - he did not meet the expectations placed on him - ended without proof of guilt, but nevertheless with a conviction to repay 8000 thalers and damage to his reputation. As early as 1689, a fire that destroyed his glassworks and the laboratory on Pfaueninsel to the ground, ruined his economy. When he received an invitation to Sweden in 1692, he ended his stay in Brandenburg. He sold his town house in Berlin, paid off his debts and traveled to Stockholm as a poor man, but rich in expertise and experience.

His skills soon earned him high recognition there. First he was appointed to the Royal Bergrat, in 1693 by King Charles XI. as "Johann Kunckel von Löwenstern" raised to the nobility. In the same year 1693 Kunckel was also elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1699 he became a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . On March 20, 1703, Johann Kunckel died on a trip. On the Pfaueninsel, the text on a natural stone reminds of his activity. In Bornstedt in Potsdam glassworks bears his name.

Works (selection)

  • Ars Vitraria Experimentalis, or Perfect Glassmaking. Leipzig 1679 ( digitized and full text in the German text archive ), 1689, 1743, 1785
  • Useful observations or notes on the fixed and volatile salts, Auro and Argento potabili ..., 1676 (lat. 1678)
  • Public communication, From the Phosphoro mirabeli and its luminous miracle pilules ..., 1678
  • From the Principiis Chymicis, Salibus Acidis and Alcalibus, Fixis and Volatilibus ..., 1677
  • Epistola contra Spiritum Vini sine Acido…, 1684
  • Chymnischer Probierstein de Acido & Urinoso, Sale Caldido & Frigido contra Dr. Voigt's Spiritus Vini Vindicatum, 1684
  • (Anthology) Five Curiose Chymic Tractätlein . Frankfurt / M. u. Leipzig 1721 (contains works already mentioned)
  • Curieuse Art and Werck School . 2 parts, Nuremberg 1696; exp. Ed. UdT Against newly erected ... Art and Werck School , 2 parts, Nuremberg 1705-07
  • Collegium physico-chymicum experimentalale or Laboratorium chymicum , Hamburg 1716 (digital copy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek [1] )

literature

Nonfiction / science

Children's books / fiction

Web links

Commons : Johannes Kunckel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: The inventor of phosphorus  - Sources and full texts

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ according to Fritz Treichel: Kunckel, Johann. in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 8. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1987, p. 194: born around 1631/34, not before 1630 and not after 1702. The place of birth was in Plön or the surrounding area.
  2. ↑ Alexander Kraft: Chemistry in Berlin. Berlin Story Verlag 2012, excerpt ( memento from August 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ When crossing the Nuthe near today's Babelsberg, there were watermills and Jobst Ludewig's glassworks, with whom he worked. Chemieforum Erckner, Kunckel
  4. ↑ Conrad Wilitzki: Zehlendorf and Dahlem as the inventor centers . In: BÄKE-Courier , 4/2016, March 22, 2016, p. 6.
  5. ^ Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German nobility lexicon . Volume 5, Leipzig 1864, p. 329 ( digitized version ). There are no family relationships for almost the same name, in 1800 in the imperial nobility raised Hessian government lawyers Johann Franz Kunckell of Löwenstern (s. The list of noble families called Löwenstern ).
  6. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter K. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 7, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Kunckel, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kunckel von Löwenstern; Löwenstern, Johann von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German glassmaker and inventor of gold ruby ​​glass
DATE OF BIRTH 1620 or 1630 or 1638
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittenberg near Plön
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 1703