Oskar Korschelt

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Oskar Korschelt

Oskar Korschelt (born September 18, 1853 in Berthelsdorf / Upper Lusatia , † July 4, 1940 in Leipzig ) was a German chemist and engineer who made outstanding contributions to the introduction of the Japanese board game Go in Europe.

Life and go activities

Oskar or Oscar Korschelt (in some sources his first name is incorrectly given as Otto; Otto is his older brother) came to Japan in 1876, where he accepted a teaching position at the Tokyo Medical School. In October 1879 he left this position and worked for the Japanese government in many areas, such as: B. the geological soil analysis but also in the improvement of the Japanese rice wine brewery. For his services he was awarded a medal by the Japanese state in May 1884. The tombstone of his second daughter († 1882) can be seen in the foreigners district of the famous Aoyama cemetery in Tokyo . In November 1884, after his contract expired, he returned briefly to Europe, where he arrived in Marseille on January 2, 1885. While his wife Marie (* August 4, 1852 ) stayed in Zittau with their children Oskar (* April 15, 1878), Marie (* August 11, 1881) and Johanna (* April 5, 1885) , he traveled to Zittau again in September From Hong Kong. There he intended to produce rice wine and export it to Japan. Since the company could not be realized, he finally returned to Germany.

Tombstone of his second daughter in Aoyama Cemetery (Tokyo)

During his stay in Japan he got to know Go. It is said that he played against the (later) Hon'inbō Murase Shuho with six checkers handicaps (which would mean that he was a fairly strong amateur player.) With Shuho's help, he published a series of articles in 1880 The Japanese-Chinese game "Go" . A chess competitor in the communications of the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia . In it, the game was described in detail for the first time in the western world. The book contained twelve master games with annotations , 155 Tsumego exercises , and introductions to Fuseki and endgame theory. He also introduced the marking of lines with Latin letters and European numbers, which is still common today. In terms of its importance for the development of Go in Europe and North America, the book can hardly be overestimated. It is still being published in its English version today.

Korschelt returned to Germany in the mid-1880s and settled in Leipzig. Not much is known about his other Go activities, but Bruno Rüger , another early Go enthusiast and sponsor, visited him in 1924 to play Go with him.

Korschelt lived off the sale of the sun-ether-ray device he invented and patented on June 14, 1891 under number 69340 in the German Reich. According to the claim, the device was intended to make "ether particles" from the sun usable for humans. The theory behind it anticipates thoughts that were later developed by Wilhelm Reich with orgone therapy . For the device he received the gold medal from the jury of the exhibition for popular health and nursing care in Halle a / S. in August 1891.

Chess composition

Korschelt also emerged as a collector of chess compositions . He also composed some pieces. According to Herbert Grasemann , he built a collection of around 100,000 tasks. An obituary in the German chess newspaper in 1940 gave the number 85,000.

In 1928 Korschelt donated his collection of exercises to the German Chess Federation. Its secretary Albert Hild took over the administration: 80,888 handwritten chess problems from the period up to 1912 were recorded on slips of paper. The DSB board decided to pay him an old-age pension from the DSB fund for Korschelt's long service to German chess. In 1928, the Korschelt collection could only be compared worldwide with the collection of Alain Campbell White , which at the time was looked after by Hume in England.

Fonts

  • The Theory and Practice of Go. CE Tuttle, 1966, ISBN 0-8048-3225-0 . (Translation from: Das Go-Spiel. In: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, Mitteilungen, Bd. 3, 1880-84).
  • The utilization of the living power of the ether in the art of healing, agriculture and technology. Published by Lothar Volkmar, Berlin, 1892.
  • The purified Alexander. Published by the German Chess Federation, Coburg, 1913.
  • About sake, the alcoholic drink of the Japanese. Polytechnisches Journal, Volume 230, pp. 76-80, Verlag JG Cotta, Stuttgart, 1878. ( digitized )

literature

  • Hashimoto, Ken'ichi: Oskar Korschelt's achievements (オ ス カ ー ・ コ ル シ ェ ル ト の 業績). In: 科学 と 工業, 23.5 (1970).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ishida: People who made a contribution to science in the Meiji period (26) - Osukā Korusheruto (明治 科学 の 恩人 た ち (26) - オ ス カ ー ・ コ ル シ ェ ル ト). In: 科学 技術 文献 サ ー ビ ス (No. 48/1977)
  2. ^ Directory of those born and baptized in Berthelsdorf from the year 1850–1869, year 1853. P. 310, no. 41.
  3. ↑ Otto Korschelt: History and family tree of the Korschelt family together with an outline: "My parents and my youth". Dresden 1922, pp. 20-21.
  4. ↑ Akira Samo: About Oskar Korschelt - His personality and achievements. unpublished Manuscript of a lecture given in Halle in September 1992.
  5. ^ Reprint of the award certificate on the website biosensor-physik.de
  6. ↑ Herbert Grasemann: A Reverends idea that made history. Self-published , Berlin 1981.
  7. ↑ Article by Dr. Binnewirtz for KARL 01/2004, extended online version
  8. ↑ Deutsche Schachzeitung, No. 12, 1928, p. 356
personal data
SURNAME Korschelt, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German go-player, chemist and engineer
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Berthelsdorf , Upper Lusatia
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1940
Place of death Leipzig