Pieter van Romburgh

Van Romburgh (Utrecht University, 1917)

Pieter van Romburgh (born September 30, 1855 in Leiden , † May 27, 1945 in Baarn ) was a Dutch chemist.

Life

Van Romburgh was the fourth of eleven children of Hubertus van Romburgh (born August 14, 1825 in Leiden; † April 4, 1889 there) and his wife Cornelia Gerarda Maria van Trotsenburg (born April 11, 1831 in Leiden; † May 26, 1901 born in The Hague). His father ran a hardware store in which the young van Romburgh became interested in chemical phenomena at an early age. After he had attended elementary school, he went to the high school in Leiden, where he took the university entrance qualification exam in 1874. On September 28, 1874, he enrolled at the University of Leiden to study chemistry with Jacob Maarten van Bemmelen and Antoine Paul Nicolas Franchimont . From 1878 he worked as an assistant at Frachimont and received his doctorate on January 22, 1881 with the thesis Over isomere chloorsubstitutieproduden van propaan en propyleen (German: About isomere chlorine substitute products from propane and propylene ) to the doctor of chemistry.

Afterwards he worked as a teacher of chemistry in Leiden and after health problems, which were restored after a visit to Bavaria and Switzerland, he worked as a chemist. When he returned to Leiden, he dealt with chemical issues relating to the synthesis of amines and aromatic nitro compounds. 1890 van Romburgh was on the recommendation of Melchior Treub employees of the Botanical Garden of Buitenzorg , where he was entrusted with the management of agronomic chemistry laboratories. In Indonesia, the investigation of natural products has now come to the fore. So he examined the essential oils in plants, rubber, gutta-percha , tea, coffee, coca, gambir and citronella . In various publications, it was possible to provide information on how to better use them. On 23 June 1902 he received a call from the University of Utrecht in organic chemistry, where he arrived May 4, 1903 his inaugural lecture De beteekenis van het onderzoek van wetenschappelijk organic Natuurproducten (German: The importance of the scientific study of organic natural products ) held.

In the Netherlands he worked on nitramines , hexatriene and the action of formic acid on higher-quality alcohols and essential oils. In addition, he participated in the organizational tasks of the university and was rector of the alma mater in the academy year 1917/18 . From 1892 he was a corresponding and on May 11, 1905 Romburgh was accepted as a full member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences . He was also a member of the Provinciaal Utrechts Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen , of which he became an honorary member in 1937. In 1926 he was made Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion and in the same year Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau . On July 24, 1926, he retired from his professorship, and then worked on the Dutch commission for coinage and a commission for the chemical defense of the Netherlands.

family

Romburgh married on May 24, 1881 in The Hague with Wilhelmina Catharina Georgina Rademaker (born January 6, 1856 in The Hague; † May 27, 1945 in Baarn), the daughter of Georg Rademaker (born July 10, 1826 in Schiedam; † January 28, 1910 in Amsterdam) and his wife Catharina Johanna van Benten, who was married on April 6, 1853 in Leiden (born January 3, 1831 in Leiden; † October 4, 1910 in Utrecht). There are three sons from the marriage. From the children we know:

• Hubertus van Romburgh (born January 26, 1883 in Leiden, † August 1, 1977 in Brussels) married. on October 1, 1946 in Brussels with Marietta Theresina Eluisa Pellegrini (born August 18, 1905 in Saint Gilles; † 1993)
• George van Romburgh (born May 26, 1885 in Leiden, † January 25, 1978 in Baarn) married. on February 22, 1916 in Amsterdam with Catharina Johanna Georgina Pieltjes (* July 7, 1894 in Amsterdam; † January 23, 1989 in Baarn)
• Cornelius Gerardus Marius van Romburgh (born November 21, 1887 in Leiden, † July 2, 1954 in Baarn) married. on August 16, 1921 in Bandoeng with France Rosa Engers (born December 30, 1892 in Amsterdam, † 1981 in Bilthoven)

literature

• Fritz Kögl : Levens report P. van Romburgh . In: Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, 1944-1945. Amsterdam, 1945, pp. 141–144 ( PDF; 342 kB )
• HAM Snelders: Romburgh, Pieter van (1855-1945) . In: Biographical Woordenboek van Nederland. The Hague, 1985, vol. 2,

Web links

• Romburgh in the Catalogus Professorum Academiae Rheno-Traiectinae
• Romburgh entry at the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW)
• Biographical data, publications and academic family tree of Pieter van Romburgh at academictree.org