Ludwig Dexheimer

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Ludwig Dexheimer
Ludwig Dexheimer portrait mirrored.jpg
Portrait, date unknown
Ludwig Dexheimer signature, vg
Signature of Ludwig Dexheimer

Ludwig Friedrich Dexheimer (born August 6, 1891 in Nuremberg ; † October 7, 1966 in Offenbach am Main ) was a German chemical engineer and writer .

Life

After graduating from high school, Dexheimer, the son of a Nuremberg businessman, attended the Royal Bavarian Technical College (today: Technical University Nuremberg Georg Simon Ohm ) from 1909 to 1911 for a four-semester study of chemical engineering . From 1911 until the plant was transferred to IG Farbenindustrie AG in 1926, Dexheimer worked and researched in the analytical laboratory of the Griesheim-Elektron chemical factory , Offenbach plant. During the First World War he worked in the same plant as a sworn chemist for ammunition tests, which is why he was exempt from military service. Due to the closure of several parts of the company, he lost his job in 1929 and then worked as an author of specialist articles. In 1937 he was able to return to the profession he had learned. In the 1950s he worked in a US Army chemistry laboratory .

From 1949 he was treasurer of the Frankfurt am Main- based Southwest German Society for Space Research .

Dexheimer remained unmarried.

Act as a writer

Under the pseudonym Ri Tokko , Dexheimer published his only known literary work Das Automatenzeitalter - a prognostic novel . The book was published in November 1930 by Amalthea-Verlag , Vienna , predated to 1931. The wealth of ideas and the accuracy of its prognoses make the novel one of the most fascinating utopias of the 20th century . For example, he describes the transfer of knowledge, detached from paper, using remote technical devices from central libraries, which can be used by countless readers at the same time. This is one of the first formulations of the idea of ​​the Internet . He also outlines the re-creation of extinct species (specifically in the novel: dinosaurs ) by the art of biologists as a dream for the future. Hormonal contraception , recycling, and cloned people are among many other subjects of his visions.

The age of automatons is also a rarity in German science fiction of the prewar period due to Dexheimer's pacifist - liberal attitude :

“Ri Tokko's age of automatons is one of the most fascinating utopias of the 20th century, not for literary reasons, but because of the wealth of ideas, the modernity of the images, the accuracy of the forecasts and the pacifist-liberal attitude of the author - a rarity in the German pre-war science fiction. The qualities of the novel outshine dubious features such as the high esteem for eugenics and make it still worth reading 74 years after the first edition. The reading also enables an insight into the thinking and feeling of a member of the technical intelligentsia at the end of the Weimar Republic. "

- Ralf Bülow in The Age of Automatons

On December 31, 1938, the book was included in the “ List of Harmful and Unwanted Literature ” by the National Socialist Reich Chamber of Literature because of pacifist sources and was thus effectively banned.

Others

  • The pseudonym Tokko probably comes from the Buddhist language area and describes a magic instrument , also called a dokko , which the priest Kūkai used to draw warm water from a rock to heal a sick person
  • In Offenbach there is a Ludwig-Dexheimer-Kreis , which, among other things, campaigns for a street to be named after the author

Works

Web links

Commons : S  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Ludwig Dexheimer: The age of automatons . Ed .: Ralf Bülow. Shayol, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-926126-37-X , p. 16 f . ( Dexheimer's autograph curriculum vitae from August 13, 1937 [PDF]). (PDF; 492 kB).
  2. ↑ The Kgl. Bayer. Technical center in Nuremberg. Report on the 3rd academic year 1909–1910, p.14. (PDF; 2.3 MB).
  3. ↑ The Kgl. Bayer. Technical center in Nuremberg. Report on the 4th academic year 1910–1911, p.15. (PDF; 2.49 MB).
  4. ↑ Exemplary: Stepchildren in our transport system: telephone and pneumatic post. ( Memento from December 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Deutsche-Bergwerks-Zeitung , from November 1, 1934. On: epilog.de .
  5. ↑ Ralf Bülow: The man from Offenbach who knew the future. focus.de, November 5, 2013, accessed on April 29, 2015 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Ri Tokko: The age of automatons. With Wilhelm Ostwald into the year 2500. (PDF; 2.2 MB); Lecture by Ralf Bülow. From: fksfl.de , November 19, 2004, accessed December 5, 2013.
  7. ↑ Bernd Flessner: Glasses into the new reality. (PDF; 193 kB) In: Culture & Technology. January 2013, p. 28 ff, p. 30 , accessed on September 18, 2014 .
  8. ↑ Made in Franconia. Radio feature from Bavaria 2 , 9: 40-15: 50 min there. On: br-online.de , January 8, 2012, accessed December 11, 2013 ( MP3 ; 48.96 MB).
  9. ↑ Ludwig Dexheimer: The age of automatons . S. 9 ff . ( Introduction by Ralf Bülow to The Age of Automatons [PDF]). (PDF; 492 kB)
  10. ↑ Ludwig Dexheimer: The age of automatons . S. 14 ( Introduction by Ralf Bülow to The Age of Automatons [PDF]). (PDF; 492 kB).
  11. ^ Online publication of the list of writings forbidden by the National Socialists. From: berlin.de , accessed on December 5, 2013.
  12. ^ Goedart Palm: Ri Tokko or the love of the machine. heise.de, April 16, 2006, accessed December 5, 2013 .
  13. ^ Meeting Ludwig-Dexheimer-Kreis. ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. From: fr-online.de , December 3, 2013, accessed December 5, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / termine.fr-online.de
personal data
SURNAME Dexheimer, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dexheimer, Ludwig Friedrich (full name); Tokko, Ri (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemical engineer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1966
Place of death Offenbach am Main