Karl Jonas

Karl Jonas (born October 26, 1886 in Munich , † February 13, 1962 in Darmstadt ) was a German chemist and university lecturer for cellulose chemistry.

Life

Karl Gustav Arno Jonas was born in Munich in 1886 as the son of the landscape and art painter Paul Jonas and his wife Lina Meermann. After graduating from high school in Munich, Jonas studied chemistry at the TH Munich and the TH Breslau. In October 1914 he was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD. Jonas stayed as an assistant in Breslau and received his habilitation there in May 1919 and became a private lecturer. He then held the full professorship for chemistry until 1923 and headed the Institute for Organic Chemistry. In 1923 he was appointed associate professor. After Emil Heuser moved to industry, Jonas was his successor in June 1924. He became a personal professor and held an extraordinary professorship for cellulose chemistry. In the winter semester of 1924/25 he also took over the cellulose chemistry lectures for paper engineers in mechanical engineering.

Soon after taking office, Jonas began working towards redesigning the paper engineering course. The chemical areas were greatly expanded at his instigation. In addition to the modification of the internship, it was introduced that the diploma thesis was carried out in the field of mechanical engineering or technology or cellulose chemistry. The majority of the work subsequently took place in the field of cellulose chemistry. The doctoral theses took place almost exclusively in the field of cellulose chemistry.

In the winter semester of 1927/28, paper engineering at the TH Darmstadt was divided into a mechanical engineering and a chemical engineering discipline. This division was canceled in 1933 after Jonas left the company.

During his tenure, Jonas also strengthened the institute's equipment. Among other things, a larger pulp test facility was put into operation in 1929.

In spring 1933, Karl Jonas and Lothar Wöhler were at the center of a heated argument at the TH Darmstadt. After the Law to Restore the Professional Civil Service was passed, some a. Professors Ernst Berl and Edmund Stiasny asked for retirement in April 1933. However, numerous of his assistants and students at the TH Darmstadt spoke out against the removal of the very popular Berl. In contrast to most of the colleagues at the TH, who were more passive, Karl Jonas and Lothar Wöhler spoke out in favor of removing Berl. Jonas and Wöhler caused the rectorate under August Thum to stop Berl's further work at the TH. They found support from the Nazi student leader Heinz Hackert.

This in turn led to violent protests among the chemistry students. Under pressure from students and from representatives of the paper industry who were not satisfied with the research work, Jonas was forced to resign as head of the institute in the summer of 1933. One year later, on June 30, 1934, Jonas was finally retired under Section 6 of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. It then took over two years until the professorship could be filled again with Georg Jayme .

Karl Jonas died in February 1962 at the age of 75. His first marriage was from 1919 to Charlotte Kernbach from Breslau. His second marriage was to Edith Miebach.

Publications

• Syntheses in the sesquiterpene and diterpene series following the investigation of the terpene and sesquiterpene bodies of the galbanum oil , Breslau 1914

literature

• Melanie Hanel: Normality under exceptional conditions. The TH Darmstadt under National Socialism , Darmstadt 2014.
• One hundred years of Darmstadt University of Technology. The Technical University of Darmstadt 1836-1936 , Darmstadt 1936.
• Christa Wolf and Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt , Darmstadt 1977, p. 96.
• Hans-Joachim Putz: 100 years of paper manufacturing , in: 100 years of paper engineer from Darmstadt 1905–2005, Darmstadt 2005, pp. 8–24.