René Bohn

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René Bohn (born March 7, 1862 in Dornach ; † March 6, 1922 in Mannheim ) was a French - German - Swiss chemist . He developed the first indanthrene dyes .

Life

René Bohn grew up with eleven siblings in Dornach. His parents were Karl Friedrich Bohn (1829–1886) and Caroline Adèle geb. Bourry (born 1838). After attending the trade school in Mulhouse (1869–1878) and the cantonal school in Zurich (1878–1879), he studied chemistry at the Polytechnic in Zurich from 1879 to 1882 . His teachers there included Victor Meyer , Frederick Treadwell , Georg Lunge and Karl Heumann . In 1883 he also received his doctorate in Zurich and acquired Swiss citizenship, which he retained until the end of his life. In 1895 he married Hedwig (Edwiga) Schoch (1874–1961) in Milan, with whom he had two children.

Bohn gained his first practical work experience in a calico printing plant in Mulhouse. Through the mediation of Victor Meyer, he was employed at BASF in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in the Alizarin department of the company laboratory in 1884 . Bohn's research in dye chemistry was startling. As early as 1885 he discovered a new dye, the alizarin marron . This was followed by anthracene blue (1886), alizarin black (1887), carbazole yellow , as well as alizarin green and alizarin blue green (all 1888). In 1892 the Industrial Society of Mulhouse awarded him the “gold-plated medal for all his work in the field of artificial coloring”. His most famous discovery is indanthrene , a dye that is washable, lightfast and weatherproof. The patent for this was applied for on February 6, 1901 as a "process for the preparation of a blue dye of the anthracene series" (DRP No. 129845).

Bohn's grave in Mannheim

In 1906, Bohn became director and deputy board member of BASF. From 1911 he headed the entire Alizarin department. In 1914 he was awarded the title of professor and from 1919 he was a full member of the Board of Management of BASF. At the end of 1921, Bohn quit his job and died a few months later, one day before his 60th birthday, in Mannheim.

René Bohn had a keen eye for observation, brilliant intuition and a masterful ability to experiment. His inventions were “always peculiar, amazingly new and therefore fundamental,” according to his friend and colleague Paul Julius (1862–1931).

The BASF hotel bears his name in honor of René Bohn. A street was named after him in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. On his grave in the main cemetery in Mannheim is a travertine pillar with a surrounding tape.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Support group for historical tombs in Mannheim e. V. (Hrsg.): Die Friedhöfe in Mannheim: Guide to the graves of well-known Mannheim personalities on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Mannheim main cemetery on July 14, 1992. SVA, Mannheim 1992, p. 199.
personal data
SURNAME Bohn, René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French-German-Swiss chemist
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Dornach near Mulhouse
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1922
Place of death Mannheim