Karl Aschoff

Karl Aschoff (born July 12, 1867 in Kreuznach ; † July 19, 1945 ) was a German pharmacist .

Life

family

In the von Aschoff family there were numerous pharmacists in different lines over generations . His father - Hermann Aschoff (* 1834 in Herford ; † 1911 ) - acquired the Schwanen pharmacy in Bad Kreuznach in 1863 , which was built in the middle of the 18th century. The house was built on a pillar of the old Nahe bridge , where it was destroyed by a flood in 1784 , whereby the owner of the house - pharmacist Riem - died. The pharmacist's wife was given the privilege to continue running the pharmacy and had a new pharmacy built on the island pillar of the Nahe bridge. Aschoff was born in this house.

Career

Aschoff grew up on the bathing place near the spa center, which at that time enjoyed international fame. Guests from all over the world came to visit the city's baths at this time.

The father, like Aschoff himself, was certain that his son would continue the family tradition of choosing a career, so no other profession than that of pharmacist came into question. Aschoff studied in Heidelberg , where he was very impressed by Prof. Victor Meyer's experimental lectures due to his preference for natural sciences . During his studies he himself called these lectures “ a self-contained work of art ”.

The Kreuznach healing springs mainly contain chlorine , bromine and iodine and their healing effects were attributed to their bromine and iodine content by Privy Councilor Prieger - the founder of the spa. Aschoff must have already dealt with the phenomenon of the Kreuznach mineral springs during his studies : he did his doctorate on " a quick separation of chlorine, bromine and iodine ".

He completed his studies in 1892 and then took over as Dr. Aschoff his father's swan pharmacy. Dr. In addition to his professional obligations, Aschoff pursued his scientific inclinations, which occupied him all his life. Due to his fascination for the developments in the natural sciences of this time, his natural disposition - for brooding, experimenting and research - enabled him to use the new findings of physics in his chemical considerations. In a large area he was the first to own an X-ray machine in order to take X-rays for the doctors in Bad Kreuznach and the surrounding area.

Dr. Aschoff was a member of the supervisory board of Solebäder AG for many decades and also worked in its administration during the war .

“In addition to my business work, the wartime brought me much more activity, since the spa director was in the field and a large part of his work was my responsibility. It was very interesting for me that I came into contact with the Kaiser , Hindenburg and Ludendorff . "

- Karl Aschoff

Despite his great commitment to scientific observation and research, he also devoted himself to his own pharmacy business. Shortly after taking it over, he rebuilt the pharmacy on the Nahe bridge; this was equivalent to a new building.

Aschoff experimented, examined and wrote well into old age; even at the age of 75, he carried out a comprehensive examination of the Salinental Kreuznach . He had boreholes drilled at 150 points at a depth of one meter and measured the radon occurring in them . The results and conclusions obtained were published in 1943 in the journal Der Balneologe .

Services

Inspired by the scientific advances of his time and driven by his thirst for research, he began to examine the Kreuznach sources for radiating substances, about which he himself made the following unpublished record:

“In 1898 the Curie couple in Paris isolated the carrier of this mysterious radiation from Joachimstaler pitchblende, an ore containing uranium , first the element called " polonium ", then the RADIUM itself. In the same year, CC Schmidt found similar radiation in Thor compounds. There were three types of radiation, alpha , beta , and gamma rays . Elster and Geitel in Wolfenbüttel proved the emanation in 1901 . At the instigation of Elster and Geitel, the construction of sensitive electroscopes for carrying out such examinations was also started in Wolfenbüttel. It was also found that the chemical properties of Ra are close to barium . During this time I came up with the idea of examining the sediment of the Kreuznach springs, which is excreted from it through oxidation when the Kreuznach brine is standing , for any radioactive material content [...] This sinter is excreted on a large scale at the graduation plant instead, in that it partially attaches itself to the thorns of the graduation towers. It is obtained by burning the thorns that have grown old. It was precisely the barium content of our brine sources and then also of the precipitated spring sinter that led me to my investigations, as any radium had to be recovered when isolating the barium from the sinter. Now the question had to be solved: Is this source barite radioactive ? "

- Karl Aschoff

He had to prove the possible radiation without an electroscope, which he succeeded with the help of a photographic plate . He placed some metal objects on a photographic plate wrapped in opaque paper and exposed it to the radiation from the barite . After the plate had been developed for several hours , the contours of the objects appeared as unexposed bright areas on the black-primed plate. He carried out further experiments, all of which produced the same result: the barite in the sources was radioactive.

"You can imagine my surprise and joy."

- Karl Aschoff

He wrote this in his notes. He was the first to present the results of his investigations to the physicists Elster and Geitel in Wolfenbüttel, who recognized the importance of these and provided him with an electroscope they had designed for his further work.

In the following years he examined all the sources of the bath for their content of radium, radium emanation , radiothor and other radioactive elements. The then saltworks director Neumann became Aschoff's employee.

A group of doctors from Kreuznach, scientifically thinking, progressive-minded doctors developed a new therapy that quickly proved itself and has become a household name under the name Kreuznacher procedures and Kreuznacher school . This made Bad Kreuznach the first radium bath in the world. Aschoff's work triggered new important developments both in Bad Kreuznach and in other baths.

A street and a clinic were named after Aschoff.

Works

• The radioactive remedies of the radium brine bath Kreuznach - 1910 - Kreuznach (print: Voigtländer)
• The radioactivity of the Kreuznacher sol sources: general understanding. Treatise - 1910 - Kreuznach (printed by Voigtländer)
• The radioactivity of the Kreuznacher Solquellen: compilation of the investigations from the years 1904-1909 - ~ 1910 - Kreuznach (print: Voigtländer)
• A contribution to the explanation of the mode of action of the radium brine baths - ~ 1911 - Kreuznach (publisher: Voigtländer)
• The radium inhalatorium in Bad Kreuznach - 1913 - Kreuznach (Print: Voigtländer)
• The Kreuznacher Kurmittel: A guide through the Kreuznacher Saline, d. Bathhouses and Radium Inhalatorium - 1913 - Kreuznach (Print: Cappallo) - Ed. By d. Kreuznacher Solbäder AG
• The Kreuznacher Kurmittel: Guide through d. Kreuznacher Saline - 1913 - Kreuznach (Publisher: Scheffel) - Ed. By d. Kreuznacher Solbäder-Akt.-Ges.
• Spa facilities and remedies of the Radium-Solbad Kreuznach: On behalf of the Kreuznacher Solbäder-Aktiengesellschaft - 1916 - Kreuznach (Print: Buss & Kupfer)
• The Radium Inhalatorium in Bad Kreuznach - 1916 - Kreuznach (print: Harrach) - published by the municipal traffic office
• The radioactivity of the German medicinal springs and their part in their therapeutic effect - 1925 - Munich (publisher: Verlag der Aerztl. Rundschau O. Gmelin)
• About "bath salts" - 1933 - Berlin (publisher: R. Schoetz)
• The healing springs of the radium brine bath Kreuznach. - 1936 - Kreuznach (printed by Harrach)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kurdirektor i. R. Wilh. Dörters: Dr. Karl Aschoff and Bad Kreuznach , Heimatblätter 1965/8 - Public Gazette , Bad Kreuznach, 1965
2. ↑ Doktor-Karl-Aschoff-Strasse
3. ↑ Karl Aschoff Clinic