Karl von Reichenbach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Reichenbach, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1832
Karl von Reichenbach
Karl von Reichenbach, lithograph by Rudolf Hoffmann , 1856

Karl (Carl) Ludwig Friedrich (since 1839 Freiherr von ) Reichenbach (born February 12, 1788 in Stuttgart , † January 19, 1869 in Leipzig ) was an industrialist , engineer, chemist , natural scientist and philosopher .

life and work

Reichenbach's father was Carl Ludwig Reichenbach (1757–1837), ducal Württemberg librarian and archivist; the family had a total of four children. The grandfather Jeremias Friedrich Reichenbach (1725-1810) came from the Cannstatt-based surgeon family. An aunt of Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach was the painter Ludovike Simanowiz and one of his uncle was Wilhelm Heinrich (1763–1843), personal and regimental medic of Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg in Mömpelgard .

During his studies, Carl Ludwig Reichenbach founded a secret society in Tübingen in 1806 to establish a colony on Tahiti (Otaheiti) in the South Pacific (Otaheiti Society). At the end of 1808 the society was discovered by the police and most of its members were arrested on suspicion of high treason. Reichenbach was imprisoned on the Hohenasperg for some time .

After studying natural sciences in Tübingen , he worked for the iron hammer works in Hausach in Baden . There he developed and marketed novel ovens for charring wood.

After receiving his doctorate , he moved to Blansko in Moravia to work for the Prince Salm-Reifferscheidt in their ironworks. During this activity, large tar factories were built for the distillation of coal tar, and von Reichenbach worked intensively on the components of wood tar . By chance discovery he succeeded in synthesizing the first commercially produced dye, Pittakall . On November 15, 1833, a meteorite fell in Blansko . This event fascinated von Reichenbach so much that he had his workers search for days until the meteorite was found. In the following years he also used his fortune to build up an important meteorite collection. The terms Kamacit , Taenit and Plessit for components of iron meteorites go back to him. In 1869 he donated his collection to the mineralogical exhibition and teaching collection in Tübingen , where it can still be viewed today.

In 1835 Reichenbach acquired the Cobenzl Palace near Vienna. Because of the experiments he carried out in the castle, the Viennese gave him the nickname “Magician of Cobenzl”. During this time, at Liebig's instigation, the chemist Ernst Sell gained important insights into the establishment and operation of Sell's tar factories in Offenbach am Main.

For his wife Friederike Louise geb. Erhard bought Reichenbach's love vase from 1831 by the sculptor Friedrich Distelbarth . After her death in 1835 he gave the monumental vase to the city of Stuttgart, which then made him an honorary citizen in 1836. Five children were born in the marriage, of which a son and a daughter survived, most of whom later resided in Vienna.

From 1841 von Reichenbach devoted himself to the investigation of scientific border areas. At the center of these investigations was the life force Od (from Odin ) postulated by him . According to him, the Od is an all-pervading polar force similar to magnetism , which cannot be measured physically, but causes many sensible processes. In his studies on the theory of odors , von Reichenbach claimed that particularly gifted people, he called them sensitive , could perceive weak light phenomena from magnets in dark rooms . The proximity to mesmerism , whose Fluidum concept he replaced with his OD teaching, and the fact that other researchers (including Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Gustav Theodor Fechner ) could not repeat Reichenbach's experiments, brought him bitter criticism and let him in increasingly bitter in his final years.

In 1911 Reichenbachgasse in Vienna- Favoriten was named after him.

family

He married Friederike Louise Erhard († 1835) in Stuttgart in 1810 , a daughter of the publisher Christoph Heinrich Erhard . The couple had several children:

  • Karl (1811-1811)
  • Reinhold (* 7 August 1812; † 1887) ⚭ Antonia von Hauer (* 10 July 1817)
  • Emmeline Eunonnia (September 5, 1813 - February 11, 1826)
  • Hermine (born September 5, 1819; † October 28, 1902), botanist ⚭ November 11, 1849 Carl Schuh (born December 29, 1806; † June 5, 1863) photographer, naturalist
  • Otto Eugen (born October 9, 1822 - † May 9, 1850)

estate

Allegedly from his estate, the font Caroline v. Linsingen , the wife of an English prince. Unprinted letters and treatises (...) published.

Memberships

Since 1854 he was a member of the Leopoldina .

Works

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach . State capital Stuttgart.
  2. ↑ Michael Engel: Odlehre. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1063 f.
  3. ↑ Sabine Kleine: The rapport between animal magnetism and hypnotism. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 13, 1995, pp. 299-330; here: p. 316.
  4. ↑ Full title: Caroline v. Linsingen , the wife of an English prince. Unprinted letters and treatises from the estate of Baron K. v. Reichenbach , edited and provided with an introduction by * * *, Leipzig 1880
  5. ^ Member entry of Karl von Reichenbach at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on April 28, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Reichenbach, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reichenbach, Karl Ludwig von; Reichenbach, Carl Ludwig von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naturalist, chemist
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1869
Place of death Leipzig