Richard Franz Friedrich

Richard Franz Friedrich (born April 14, 1848 in Neustädtel ; † November 16, 1916 in Oberschlema ) was a German master builder.

Live and act

Bad Schlema, Richard-Friedrich-Park, Richard Friedrich memorial plaque

Richard Franz Friedrich was born on April 14, 1848 in Neustädtel and was baptized on April 16, 1848 in the local Evangelical Lutheran parish To our dear women . After graduating from school, he attended the construction school in Chemnitz .

In the period from 1870 to 1871 Friedrich took part in the French campaign.

In 1872 Friedrich found a job in the Fiscalic Blue Color Works in Oberschlema and replaced Anton Brückner as master builder. His job was to monitor and control the mine workings used by the blue paint works in the Marx-Semler-Stolln . In order to meet the water requirements of the blue paint works, by order of the director of operations Friedrich Schulze, in the 292.4 m long Jung König David wing, which was located above the 15th light hole of the Marx-Semler-tunnel, 110 m from the Marx- Semler-Stolln, a concrete dam was built.

In the course of the investigation of the Saxon waters for their radon content , the water of the young king David Flachen was sampled on January 5, 1909 by Carl Schiffner and Max Weidig . Richard Friedrich assisted with this work. Shortly before, he himself had carried out measurements of the radon content of water with an Engler & Sieveking fontactoscope from the Günther & Tegetmeyer company from Braunschweig.

Since Schiffner and Weidig soon left Oberschlema again to carry out further measurements elsewhere, Richard Friedrich carried out the measurements alone with the consent of the Royal Ministry of Finance. As an autodidact, he acquired extensive knowledge in the field of radiology . The aim of his work was to investigate the possible uses of radioactive water. He was convinced that breathing in radioactive air was more effective for the organism than bathing in radioactive water.

Until April 1909, Friedrich examined the waters of the Marx-Semler-Stolln and its side wings in the area from the city limits of Schneeberg to below the 14th light hole. In further investigations, together with his assistants, works supervisor Paul Lippold and blue color works worker Paul Emil Rössel, he found the strongest radon-containing waters in the Unnamed Flachen (Radium Flachen). For this reason, he gave this tunnel wing the name Radiumort.

Between February 21, 1910 and January 18, 1911, the 41 m long radium site was driven further to find additional sources. The investigations of the waters between the 13th and 15th light hole were also continued by Friedrich. The total costs borne by the Blue Ink Factory Consortium up to then amounted to RM 7,883. With his work, Friedrich created the conditions to seriously consider the use of radioactive water.

Richard Franz Friedrich worked alongside his research as a co-author on the third volume of the series "Radioactive Waters in Saxony " by Schiffner and Weidig, which appeared in 1911.

In 1911 Friedrich developed the first plans for a radium bath with an attached pit emanatorium . He put the total cost at 518,163 RM (the original figures were converted to RM as of 1938). After a negative decision from the Kingdom of Saxony, which was 40 percent involved in the blue paintworks consortium and thus involved in the costs, this project had to be put on hold. Together with Fritz Ludwig Kohlrausch , the director of the Institute for Radium Research founded by Schiffner at the Freiberg Bergakademie , he continued the investigations in the Marx-Semler-Stolln. To facilitate access and thus the investigations, a 40 m deep shaft was sunk on the radium site between May 8 and October 9, 1911. Due to the incalculable costs, the blue color works consortium decided on March 31, 1912 not to market the radioactive water itself, but to lease the rights if possible.

The further work of Friedrich and Kohlrausch led to the discovery of the strongest radium source in Germany in the radium site on November 13, 1912. The Royal Ministry of Finance thereupon approved on May 5, 1913 for a period of 6 months the free delivery of radium water to the population for one hour per day. The first issue took place on June 16, 1913. The license for the free delivery of radium water was extended several times by the Royal Ministry of Finance until the end of April 1915.

In 1913 Friedrich finished his work in the blue paint factory and retired . Together with the local board of Oberschlema, William Vogelgesang, Friedrich worked on the plan to found a radium bath company. In order to put this project into practice, on August 2, 1913, on the initiative of Friedrich and Vogelgesang, the association “Committee for the Utilization of Radioactive Waters in Oberschlema” was founded in Schneeberg. Richard Franz Friedrich, Friedrich Kohlrausch and KJ Freiherr Gedult von Jungsfeld, assistant for radium studies at the Bergakademie Freiberg, worked out an expert opinion presented on February 28, 1914 in Freiberg , which at the same time was a feasibility study on the economic utilization of radioactive water in the therapeutic forms of baths and drinking cures and inhalation was. This study should help in the search for investors, as the Kingdom of Saxony refused to participate. The dispatch of water for drinking cures was a central component of the feasibility study. After approval by the Royal Ministry of Finance on April 30, 1914, water dispatch for drinking cures was started. In the meantime, Friedrich had also received the patent for the utilization of low-level radioactive water for emanation purposes, which he left to the later bathing company at cost price. On September 23, 1915, the "Radiumbad Oberschlema-Schneeberg GmbH" was founded in the train station restaurant in Oberschlema. Richard Franz Friedrich and William Vogelgesang were elected as managing directors.

In the former home of the Kästel family, which was bought by the spa company, Friedrich set up a provisional emanatorium. This was opened in May 1916.

On August 2, 1916, construction began on the Kurhaus, but Richard Friedrich did not live to see the opening on May 16, 1918. He died on November 16, 1916 in Oberschlema. At his solemn funeral on November 19th, the coffin was carried by employees of the Royal Blue Color Works in its historical habit. In 1925 a street in the newly laid out hostel district was named after Friedrich and in 1930 a granite block with a bronze relief was inaugurated in the Kurhausgarten.

The new Kurmittelhaus, which opened in Bad Schlema on October 25, 1998, is again on Richard-Friedrich-Straße. The two man-high wooden figures in the entrance area of ​​the spa embody Richard Friedrich in the parade habit of a master builder and Paul Emil Rössel in the habit of a blue-paint worker.

literature

• Yearbook for mining and metallurgy in the Kingdom of Saxony. 1873 to 1917.
• Oliver Titzmann: Radium bath Oberschlema . Self-published, Schlema 1995.

Web links

Commons : Richard Franz Friedrich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Richard Friedrich (1848–16.11.1916) "Father of the Radium Bath Oberschlema" (PDF)
• first mention in the yearbook as a foreman (PDF)
• P.488 Mention of death (PDF)
• Franz Richard Friedrich's biography on www.tu-freiberg.de.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Purchasing power as a measure of the value of money. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 2, 2015 ; accessed on February 2, 2016 . 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.