Johannes Wislicenus

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Johannes Wislicenus 1881
obituary

Johannes Adolf Wislicenus (born June 24, 1835 in Kleineichstädt , † December 5, 1902 in Leipzig ) was a German chemist .

Life

His father was the theologian Gustav Adolf Wislicenus . From 1842 to 1852 he attended the middle and secondary school of the Francke Foundations . He began studying chemistry and mathematics at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and from 1853 to 1859 at the University of Zurich . During his studies he became a member of the Fraternity of the Pflüger Halle in 1852 and of the old Halle fraternity "Kühler Bronnen" in 1857 .

His father emigrated with him to the USA in 1853 for political reasons . At Harvard College, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he worked as a chemist at Eben Norton Horsford and in 1854 as a lecturer at the Mechanics Institute in New York. In 1856 he returned to Germany and was assistant to Heinrich Wilhelm Heintz in Halle until 1859 . He received his PhD in 1860 with a thesis on the theory of mixed types to Dr. phil. at the University of Zurich and completed his habilitation in Reiner, applied and physical chemistry at the Polytechnic Zurich . In 1860 Wislicenus married Catharina Maria Sattler, the granddaughter of the Schweinfurter-Grün inventor Ignaz von Mitis . His son Wilhelm was born in 1861, completed his habilitation in 1888 with Emil Fischer and was appointed professor for inorganic and analytical chemistry in Würzburg until 1902.

From 1860 to 1864 he was a private lecturer for pure, applied and physical chemistry and from 1860 to 1870 for pure and applied chemistry at the Zurich Polytechnic. From 1864 to 1867 he was associate professor for chemistry at the University of Zurich. In 1864 he became a full professor there and in 1870 at the Polytechnic.

In 1872 he hesitated to accept a call to succeed Adolph Strecker, who died unexpectedly in 1871, at the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg . In 1874 the chemical institute, which had been located in Maxstrasse since 1865, was enlarged under his direction. There he founded the Würzburg Chemical Society.

In 1885 he went to the University of Leipzig as the successor to Hermann Kolbe and headed the Chemical Institute there until his death. His successor in Würzburg in 1885 was taken over by Emil Fischer .

Act

The first synthesis of lactic acid and acetoacetic ester go back to him. He recognized the spatial arrangement of the atoms as the cause of optical activity and introduced the concept of geometric isomerism using lactic acid as an example .

He was rector from 1870 to 1871 at the Polytechnic, from 1880 to 1882 in Würzburg and from 1893 to 1894 in Leipzig. Since 1895 he was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , from 1885 to 1902 a full member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences , since 1882 a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and since 1896 a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1889 he was elected to the board of the German Chemical Society in Berlin for one year . In 1895 he was chairman of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors .

In 1898 he received the Davy Medal of the Royal Society .

He was friends with the physiologist Adolf Fick and was involved in a scientific dispute with Edward Frankland .

As a strongly patriotic-nationalist-minded person, Wislicenus also stood as a model for a figure on the Niederwald monument . Wislicenus was one of the founding members of the “General German Association”, which was established on April 9, 1891 and which was renamed “ All-German Association ” in 1894 and of which he was chairman until 1902 of the Würzburg local group that was established in 1898.

In Ludwigshafen am Rhein, the Wislicenusblock building ensemble is named after him and is located near BASF .

PhD students

in Würzburg
in Leipzig

Fonts (selection)

  • Regnault-Strecker's short textbook on chemistry . Vieweg, Braunschweig 1851 ( digitized version )
  • The high school graduates of the Realgymnasien and Realschulen 1st order as students at the universities. Speech to celebrate the 299th foundation day of the Kgl. Bayer. Julius Maximilians University held on January 3, 1881. Thein (Stürtz), Würzburg 1881.
  • Speech for the third secular celebration of the […] Julius-Maxim.-University at the main festivity in the university church on the morning of August 2, 1882, by the current Rector Dr. Johannes Wisclicenus. Thein, Würzburg 1882. Also in: Alma Julia. Illustrated chronicle of their third secular celebration. Würzburg 1882, pp. 105-109.
  • About the spatial arrangement of the atoms in organic molecules and their determination in geometrically isomeric unsaturated compounds . 14th volume of the treatise of the mathematical-physical class of the Royal Saxon Society of Sciences, dissertation, Leipzig 1887.

literature

  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 6: T-Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8253-5063-0 , pp. 345-347.
  • Klaus Koschel: The development and differentiation of chemistry at the University of Würzburg. In: Peter Baumgart (Ed.): Four hundred years of the University of Würzburg. A commemorative publication. Degener & Co. (Gerhard Gessner), Neustadt an der Aisch 1982 (= sources and contributions to the history of the University of Würzburg , Volume 6), ISBN 3-7686-9062-8 , pp. 703–749; here: pp. 718–725.
  • Carl Schaedler: Biographical-literary concise dictionary of the scientifically important chemists . Friedländer-Verlag, Berlin 1891, pp. 155–156.
  • Wilhelm Sonne: Memories of Johannes Wislicenus from the years 1876–1881. With a preface by Max Conrad. Engelmann, Leipzig 1907.
  • Winfried R. Pötsch (lead), Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller; with the collaboration of Heinz Cassebaum : Lexicon of important chemists . Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-323-00185-0 , pp. 458-459.
  • Wislicenus, Johannes . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 28 : Vetch - Zymotic Diseases . London 1911, p. 753 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Johannes Wislicenus on the family homepage.
  2. ^ Klaus Koschel: The development and differentiation of the subject chemistry at the University of Würzburg. In: Peter Baumgart (Ed.): Four hundred years of the University of Würzburg. A commemorative publication. Degener & Co. (Gerhard Gessner), Neustadt an der Aisch 1982 (= sources and contributions to the history of the University of Würzburg. Volume 6), ISBN 3-7686-9062-8 , pp. 703–749; here: p. 724.
  3. ^ Klaus Koschel: The development and differentiation of the subject chemistry at the University of Würzburg. 1982, p. 718 f.
  4. ↑ Louis Fieser, Mary Fieser: Organic chemistry . 2nd Edition. Verlag Chemie Weinheim, 1972, ISBN 3-527-25075-1 , pp. 82-83.
  5. ↑ Member entry by Johannes Wislicenus (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on December 28, 2015.
  6. ^ Harm-Hinrich Brandt : Würzburg municipal policy 1869-1918. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , p. 1255, note 30.
personal data
SURNAME Wislicenus, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wislicenus, Johannes Adolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1835
PLACE OF BIRTH Kleineichstädt
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 1902
Place of death Leipzig