Karl von Schlippe

Karl von Schlippe

Johann Karl Friedrich (Karl Ivanovič) von Schlippe (born November 22, 1798 in Pegau , † July 24, 1867 in Bad Soden am Taunus ) was a Russian chemist and manufacturer of German origin.

Life

Karl Schlippe was born in the Electoral Saxon town of Pegau as the son of the needlework master and citizen Johann August Schlippe and his wife Dorothea Sophie, née. Fischer, born. The father came from the nearby Eisdorf, where the family had been running an outdoor farm since 1519.

Karl attended the boys' school in his hometown until he was fifteen. At the age of 7 he lost his mother, and seven years later his father. Soon afterwards he began his apprenticeship in the Pegau pharmacy ( Löwenapotheke JG Trummlitz), which he successfully completed five years later. After a further two and a half years as a journeyman pharmacist, first in Pegau, then in Görlitz, he went to Berlin. There, in the pharmaceutical laboratory of the JG Schöneberg pharmacy, the 22-year-old managed to present a new chemical compound, which he described in Schweigger's Journal for Chemistry and Physics in 1821 under the name Sodium thioantimonate (sodium thioantimonate (V) ). The Berlin chemistry professor Eilhard Mitscherlich paid tribute to this scientifically and practically significant achievement by naming the compound Schlippe's salt and including its discoverer as an assistant in his laboratory.

From the summer of 1821, Karl Schlippe combined his work in the pharmacy with his studies at the Berlin University: There he studied general and pharmaceutical chemistry, botany, geology and the like. a. m. and was accepted into the Berlin Pharmaceutical Society.

In 1824 Schlippe went to Warsaw as a chemist and head of the Kiowski chemical factory (then part of the Russian Empire). In 1826 he moved to Moscow , where he worked for a short time as an industrial chemist and then went into business for himself. He began producing vinegar and pharmaceutical chemicals, and developed a method of making chemical paints from Siberian chrome ore. In 1833 he acquired the Plesenskoye estate in the Ujesd (district) Wereja , approx. 75 km southwest of Moscow - from now on the family seat with a farm and the location of his factory. Here, in 1834, he was the first in Russia to build lead chambers for the continuous production process of sulfuric acid. His innovations also included the introduction of rapid vinegar production. According to the judgment of the Soviet science historian PM Lukjanov, the Schlippe chemical plant was "one of the most progressive" in Russia in the early 1830s; later it “surpassed all others” with the breadth of its product range. At Russian business fairs (from 1835) and at the Paris World Exhibition in 1867 , his exhibits received high and highest awards.

Since the mid-1830s, Schlippe's activities as a scientist, manufacturer and farmer were closely linked to his career in the Russian civil service. This began in 1836 with the assumption of the foreign correspondence department in the committee of the Moscow Central Society for Improved Sheep Breeding. In the years 1836/37 he discovered dolomite deposits in the Moscow governorate and developed a process for the production of starch from potato flour. In 1837 Schlippe became a member of the Imperial Moscow Agronomic Society ( Imperatorskoje Moskovskoje Obščestvo Sel'skago Choz'ajstva , acronym: IMOSCh). Commissioned to carry out chemical-technical experiments to extract sugar and molasses from sugar beet, he set up his own test plant on his factory site. In 1839 he took over the position of chemist at IMOSCh, which had been specially created for him . His tasks included a. the search for mineral resources and methods of their industrial use. With his analyzes of soil samples from a number of governorates, Karl Schlippe became a pioneer in the scientific research of Russian soils.

A Russian citizen since the end of 1837, he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus 3rd Cl. In 1839 “in recognition of his commitment to the common good and the promotion of manufacturing” . This was followed by a procedure for ennobling, which was concluded in 1844 with Schlippe's elevation to the hereditary nobility.

In 1840 he discovered rich deposits of coal, pebbles and other mineral resources in the Kaluga governorate . In his report he emphasized the economic and ecological perspectives of their use. As a result, one of his innovative manufacturing methods also became important for the war effort. In the Crimean War of 1853/56, Russia was cut off by the British-French naval blockade from importing crystalline sulfur from Sicily, which was needed for the production of black powder. The foreseeable bottlenecks in supplying the troops with ammunition were countered by the Russian side with a rationalization program and production-related measures. Karl Schlippe took part both with organizational proposals and with the construction of additional capacities for the production of sulfur from domestic pyrites.

Much of his work was focused on the needs of agriculture and the consumer goods sector. These included u. a. the introduction of potato cultivation, which was still in its infancy in the Moscow region, and the first attempts at mineral fertilization, which was only recently invented by Justus von Liebig. Towards the end of the 1840s, Schlippe developed a new type of tanning process using the kermet root. This made it possible to give sheepskins a high degree of flexibility - with correspondingly favorable effects on the quality of the Tulu'py (short coats, at that time the main item of clothing for the predominantly rural population in Russia). With the support of the permanent secretary of the Agronomic Society, SA Maslov, Schlippe organized courses whose participants, mostly farmers, learned and disseminated the new technology.

In the spring of 1852 Schlippe was appointed to the Moscow section of the Manufactory Council, and a little later was appointed a member of the committee for the organization of the Manufactory Fair of 1853. In 1854 he was awarded the Order of Saint Anne, 3rd class, for fulfilling the associated tasks. In 1856 Karl Ivanovič Schlippe, promoted to court councilor, resigned from civil service at his own request.

He used his economic success a. a. to acquire a large property in Moscow's old town and - spread over several years - several estates in the governorates of Moscow and Kaluga.

Karl von Schlippes grave in the Heidelberg mountain cemetery in the Dept.

He emphatically welcomed the abolition of serfdom in 1861 by Tsar Alexander II. The economic, legal and psychological problems associated with this reform could be resolved in Plesenskoye without the conflicts that can be observed in many places - not least because of the relationship of trust between the factory and landlord Schlippe and his until then still serf peasants, including those of him self-trained masters, assistants and workers came.

Karl von Schlippe made four trips abroad from Russia. The first (1845) was mainly for visits to German and English chemical plants. From 1860 the others led him to Germany, Bohemia and Switzerland for therapeutic treatments. In 1862, following a cure in Bad Soden, he visited Robert Bunsen in Heidelberg and heard his lectures. In 1866 he was still conducting the preparations of his factory for the Paris EXPO'67 from Montreux, but then had to return to Bad Soden for treatment. He died there on July 24, 1867, in the presence of his wife and some children who had traveled from Russia.

In Russia, Karl von Schlippe was and is known under the name "Thioantimonat" in reference to his depiction of Schlippe's salt, namely sodium thioantimonate.

His listed grave site, in which some of his descendants were buried, for example his grandson Theodor (Fedor) von Schlippe, son of Woldemar Rudolf August, is located in the mountain cemetery in Heidelberg . According to a flyer from the City of Heidelberg, Landscape and Forestry Office, Steigerweg 20, 69115 Heidelberg, it is burial site number 31 on Rundweg II. The tomb was restored 150 years after his death without, however, correcting the year of birth from 1799 to 1798.

family

Karl Schlippe was married on November 22, 1829 in Moscow with Johanna Agnes Andrée (born May 25, 1808 in Tharandt, † June 14, 1873 in Ple'senskoje), a daughter of the royal Saxon finance and rent clerk Friedrich August Andrè and his wife Johanna Amalia, b. Mustard from Pilsach .

Together, Karl and Agnes had eight majorenne children and became the first parents of a widespread clan. As a rule, the German language and membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church were preserved in the individual families; but two of Karl Schlippe's daughters switched to the Russian Orthodox Church when they got married, and relationships with ethnic Russian families increased (with names such as Gončarov, Novosilcov, Skadowsky, Nabokov and others).

During the Russian civil war of 1918–1921, most of the members of the clan left the country - some to the Baltic States, some to Germany. The subsequent political and warlike convulsions of the 20th century scattered them and their descendants all over the world.

The children of Karl and Agnes von Schlippe:

1. Klementine Marianne (Moscow 1831 - Riga 1910). ⚭1854 Odessa: Emil von Bergmann, Lord on Jefimovo. Children: 1 son, 1 daughter.
2. Woldemar (Vladimir) Rudolf August (Moscow 1834 - Dresden 1923). - On Taširovo, Ujesd Wereja, Moscow Governorate. Real secret advice. From 1881 governor in Yekaterinoslav (today's Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine), from 1886 - in Tula. 1905–1917 member of the Russian Imperial Council. ⚭1870 Witkowitz (Czech. Vitkovice): Olga Andrée (Witkowitz 1853 - Dresden 1927). Listed burial site in the urn grove, Dresden-Tolkewitz. Children: 3 sons, 2 daughters.
3. Helene Sidonie (Moscow 1837 - ibid. 1912). ⚭1858 Moscow (according to the Russian Orthodox rite): Aleksandr Nikolajevič Gal'aškin (1822–1881). Children: 4 sons, 4 daughters.
4. Alexander Wilhelm Johannes (Moscow 1842 - ibid. 1909). - On Vyšegorod, Ujesd Wereja, Moscow Governorate. Real Council of State. Multiple re-elected aristocratic marshal in Wereja. Member of the Russian Imperial Council. Preserved burial site Vvedensky Cemetery, Moscow. ⚭1867 Askania Nova: Elisabeth Falz-Fein (Prišib 1849 - St. Petersburg 1910, buried in Moscow). Children: 1 son, 4 daughters.
5. Viktor Eduard (Plesenskoje 1843 - ibid. 1911). - On Plesenskoye. Chemist. After his father, he ran the Schlippe chemical plant (limited partnership from 1873). ⚭ 1874 Gänsefurth : Gertrud von Trotha (Gänsefurth 1846 - Dresden 1923). Children: 1 son, 4 daughters.
6. Olga (Moscow 1846 - Polotn'anyj zavod, Governor Kaluga, 1901). ⚭1872 ibid .: Dmitrij Dmitrijevič Gončarov. Instead of her husband, who had been paralyzed for a long time, Olga was in charge of both the estate and the Gončarov'sche paper mill. Children: 3 sons, 3 daughters.
7. Adele (Adelaide) Albertine (Plesenskoje 1849 - Riga 1937). ⚭1870 Ple'senskoje: Arthur Kyber, gentleman on Paltemal (Livonia), 1873 co-founder of the chemical factory Schlippe KG ( Tovaričščestvo chimičeskogo zavoda Šlippe ). Children: 1 son, 1 daughter.
8. Gustav (Ple'senskoje 1851 - Riga 1929). - On Nemerzki, Ujesd Suchiniči, Gouv. Kaluga. Really State Council. Marshal Suchiniči. A nearby train station and the place Schlippowo (Šlippovo) are named after him . ⚭1877 Moscow: Rosalie Falz-Fein (Elisabetfeld 1855 - Riga 1927). Children: 5 sons, 2 daughters.

Publications (selection)

• Karl Schlippe: Attempts on the sulfur spit glossy soda and gold sulfur . In: Schweiggers Journal for Chemistry and Physics . tape XXXIII , 1821, p. 320-323 .
• Karl Schlippe: About the coal and pebble deposits in the Kaluga governorate . Universitätsdruckerei, Moscow 1841 (Russian title in scientific transcription: K. Šlippe. O priiskach kamennago ugl'a i sernago kolčedana v Kalužskoj gubernii. Moskva, v Universitetskoj tipografii, 1841).

Articles in "Agricultural Journal of the IMOSCh":

• About the coal and sulfur ore deposits in Medynsk District (Governor Kaluga). 1841. (Orig. Russian: "O priiskach kamennago ugl'a i sernago kolčedana v Medynskom ujezd'e Kalužskoj gubernii".) This report was published in the same year, linguistically smoothed and with a slightly different title, as a special print in the Moscow university printing house : See above

The rest of Schlippe’s work, published in the IMOSCh Journal, was mostly geared towards specific needs in the agricultural or domestic sector. Examples:

• About obtaining starch from potato flour. 1839.
• About the production of sulphurous acid and its use in beet sugar production. 1839.
• The chemical composition of the potato, as well as evidence that potato flour is easiest to extract from the frozen tuber. 1844.
• About substances containing tannic acid and their different suitability for tanning. 1845.

Articles in the "Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturlistes en Russie à Moscou":

• Blue neutral acetic acid copper. Vol. VIII, 1835, pp. 148-150.
• About the preparation of some sulfur salts and their elementary components. Vol. IX, 1836, pp. 423-28.
• About a new acid in the wood vinegar. 1837, pp. 23-26.
• About the dolomite deposits of the Moscow governorate and their use in technical relations. 1838, pp. 189-196.
• About Kermet and its value as a tanning material. 1838.
• Contribution to the knowledge of the tin acid sodium. Vol. XXI, 1851, pp. 644-647.
• Investigations of some soil types in southern Russia. 1853.

literature

• Bernhard Lepsius:  Schlippe, Karl Friedrich von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, p. 520 f (some incorrect information, including Heidelberg as the place of death, and other chronological errors.).
• Johann Christian Poggendorff : Biographical-literary concise dictionary for the history of the exact sciences . Volume II. Col. 804f .; Vol. III. P. 1194 (some incorrect information, including year of birth 1799 and ennobled 1840).
• Benno v. Schlippe (Ed.): From ancestors and grandchildren . Mitau / Jelgava 1935 (In terms of content, an attempt to create a “Yearbook of the Descendants of Karl von Schlippe” was in some ways outdated and because of the early death of the editor. It is owned by the family. According to Leo Gaston v.Schlippe, it was in the Bremen University Library , registered under the signature BWc 898 NO 15).
• Holm-Dietmar Schwarz: Karl's 200th birthday. F. von Schlippe . In: Deutsche Apothekerzeitung (DAZ) . 139th year, no. 6 , February 11, 1999 (several incorrect information).

Web links

Commons : Karl von Schlippe  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

1. ^ "Karl Ivanovič": First name and patronymic customary in the country. "Ivanovič" derived from "Johann" (one of the baptismal names of Karl Schlippe's father). The spelling of Russian names and designations here and further almost without exception according to the rules of scientific (Slavic) transcription
2. ↑ after the death certificate. Date and place of death are incorrectly given in the ADB as August 1867 and Heidelberg.
3. ↑ See publications. Schlippe's report was submitted by SF Hermbstaedt , Berlin chemistry professor and member of the editorial board of the Schweigger journal. According to today's nomenclature , the scientific name of Schlippe’s salt is sodium thioantimonate nonahydrate , the chemical formula: Na ₃ SbS ₄ · 9 H ₂ O.
4. ↑ Lukjanov PM Kratkaja istorija chimičeskoj promyšlennosti SSSR. Moscow, 1959, pp. 68, 85f.
5. ^ Soc. Nat. Bull. 1853, see "Publications"
6. ^ First entry of Karl Schlippe and his family in Section 3 of the Moscow nobility register on April 17, 1844 (decision of the Chamber of Deputies of the Moscow Nobility). After the later acquisition of real estate in Gouv. Kaluga, the family was also included in the local nobility register. The family name remained "Schlippe": In Russia there was no predicate for the lower nobility. The right to use the German nobility predicate (“von”) was later officially confirmed to the family: in Russia before the First World War, in Germany (where it affected family members who had settled after 1918) - in 1935, 1936, 1959. (See “Genealogical Handbook of the German Aristocracy”, AH B Vol. V).
7. ↑ Kermet is the root of Goniolimon tataricum Boiss from the lead root family . (Former name Statice tatarica).
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} This work is also listed in:
   - Table Générale et Systématique des Matières Contenues dans les Premiers 56 Volumes (années 1829–1881) You Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou. Moscou 1882, as well as in
   - Catalog of Scientific Papers (1800-1863) compiled and published by the Royal Society of London, Vol. V, London 1871, p. 487.
9. ↑ Almost all articles in this bulletin, founded by JG Fischer von Waldheim , appeared in French or German.
10. ↑ It concerns the systematic investigation of soil samples from ten governorates of the Russian black earth area. The results of his analyzes, summarized in tabular form, were reprinted in the Journal of the Ministry of State Property, Saint-Petersburg, 1854, vol. 3, part 52, pp. 116–122, under the heading "Investigations into the black earths" ). The Russian geologist and soil researcher Vasilij Dokučajev, founder of soil geography, later referred to this work (in: Sobranije sočinenij. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, Leningrad, 1949 vol. 3, pp. 202,311f., 341.)

TOMB in Heidelberg, Bergfriedhof.