Otto Nikolaus Witt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto N. Witt 1905
obituary
Prometheus cover sheet of the 1906 hardback edition

Otto Nikolaus Witt ( Russian Отто Николаус Витт , scientific transliteration Otto Nikolaus Vitt ; born March 31, 1853 in Saint Petersburg , † March 23, 1915 in Berlin ) was a Russian, Swiss and German chemist .

Life

Otto Nikolaus Witt was the son of a Russian ministerial official of German descent. In 1865 the family lived in Munich and moved to Zurich in 1866 . Here the family took on Swiss citizenship. Witt studied chemistry at the Zurich Polytechnic from 1871 to 1873 . In 1873 he worked at the "Eisenhütte Vulkan" in Duisburg , in 1874 at the " Schiesser " calico printing company in Hard and resumed his studies in Zurich. He was interested in the dyes of croissants and bretonnière , which he recognized as sulfur dyes , and he uncovered the manufacturing process that had been kept secret until then. In 1875 he did his doctorate in Zurich on "Metadichlorobenzene". He then worked at an aniline factory in Brentford . At the age of 23, Witt established his dye theory in 1876 , the core of which can be summarized as follows: The dye nature of aromatic bodies is due to the simultaneous presence of a coloring and a salt-forming group.

In the same year (1876) Witt discovered the azo dye chrysoidin on the basis of his considerations , which subsequently led to the synthesis of numerous other, yellow to purple azo dyes. In 1879 Witt worked for Cassella & Co. in Frankfurt am Main , later in a chemistry school in Mulhouse , and between 1882 and 1885 he was director of the chemical factories association in Waldhof near Mannheim . In 1885 he became a German citizen. In 1885 Witt completed his habilitation at the TH Charlottenburg with the subject "bleaching, dyeing and fabric printing". From 1897 to 1898 he was its rector.

Witt also founded the popular science magazine Prometheus in 1889 , which was published until 1921.

Works (selection)

  • To know about metadichlorobenzene and its derivatives. About aromatic nitrosamines . Zurich 1875 (Phil. Diss. 1875)
  • To know about metadichlorobenzene and its derivatives. About aromatic nitrosamines . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1875.
  • The latest chemical advances in calico printing . Berlin 1885.
  • Chemical homology and isomerism in their influence on inventions in the field of organic chemistry. A patent study from the chemist's point of view . Berlin 1889.
  • The German chemical industry in its relationship to the patent system. With special consideration of the inventions from the field of organic chemistry. Eight lectures held at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin . Mückenberger, Berlin 1893.
  • The living conditions of the modern chemical industry. Speech on the birthday of His Majesty the Emperor and King Wilhelm II , in the auditorium of the Royal Technical University of Berlin, on January 26, 1898 . Berlin 1998
  • Speech at the memorial ceremony for the immortalized Chancellor Prince von Bismarck on March 9, 1899 . Berlin 1899.
  • Otto N. Witt [Red.]: World Exhibition in Paris 1900. Official catalog of the exhibition of the German Reich . Self-published, Berlin 1900. (digitized version)
  • Narthekion. Thoughtful contemplations of a naturalist . 3 volumes. Mückenberger, Berlin 1901–1908.
  • Nekrolog on Ferdinand Tiemann . Schade, Berlin 1902
  • The chemical industry of the German Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. A commemorative publication for the 25th anniversary of the founding of the association to protect the interests of the chemical industry in Germany . Gaertner, Berlin 1902.
  • The artificial silks . 2. through u. verb. Ed. Simion, Berlin 1909.
  • Otto N. Witt, Ludwig Lehmann: Chemical technology of staple fibers, their history, extraction, processing and refinement . 2 volumes. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1910–1917
  • Review and outlook in the field of technical chemistry . Denter & Nicolas, Berlin 1911.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lexicon of important chemists. 1988, p. 459.
  2. ↑ Eberhard Knobloch (Ed.): The shoulders on which we stand - Wegbereiter der Wissenschaft . Springer Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-540-20557-8 , p. 206.
  3. ↑ Prometheus. Illustrated weekly on the advances in applied science . Rud. Mückenberger, Berlin 1889–1921.
personal data
SURNAME Witt, Otto Nikolaus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Витт, Отто Николаус (Russian); Vitt, Otto Nikolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian chemist
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1915
Place of death Berlin