Rudolf Knietsch

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Rudolf Theophil Josef Knietsch (born December 13, 1854 in Oppeln, today Opole , † May 28, 1906 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein ) was a German chemist.

Rudolf Knietsch

life and work

Tomb of Rudolf Knietsch Bergfriedhof (Heidelberg) in Department C

Born the son of a master blacksmith, he learned the metalworking trade (graduated in 1870) after leaving grammar school without a qualification and then attended the Royal Trade School in Gleiwitz from 1873 to 1875 . He completed his military service in the 4th Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 63 in Neisse. Knietsch studied chemistry from 1876 to 1880 at the Royal Trade Academy under Karl Rammelsberg and Carl Liebermann . He gained practical experience with Josef Weber in Berlin. The subject of his final examination was "Description and criticism of the latest methods for determining vapor densities and specific heat, together with an indication of the extent to which the results obtained correspond to the chemical behavior of the body". In 1881 he was in Jena with a thesis "the esculin and its derivatives over" , he in the laboratory of Carl Liebermann had developed a doctorate .

He found his first job as a chemist in Görlitz at the chemical factory of Theodor Schuchard , which was taken over by Merck KGaA in 1972 . After a short time, however, he left this again and worked for Emil Jacobsen in Berlin . In 1882 he joined the Bindschedler und Busch company in Basel and in 1884 the BASF company . He worked there as a chemist and from 1904 as director and board member. There he developed the contact process for the industrial synthesis of sulfuric acid in 1888, based on the results of Clemens Winkler . He also succeeded for the first time in the technical liquefaction of chlorine as one of the fundamentals of technical chlorine chemistry . He is also known to experts for the production of synthetic indigo . After improvements to the synthesis process developed by Karl Heumann by him and Johannes Pfleger , BASF was able to start large-scale production of indigo. In 1897 Indigo was marketed under the name "Indigo pur BASF".

The tomb for Rudolf Knietsch in the Heidelberg Bergfriedhof shows the life-size bronze of a youth in the iconographic tradition of the ancient genius of death , crouching on a bench. The life torch in his left hand lowered reserved, the rights include the laurel wreath . Two bronze tablets show the life of the family.

Awards

The Justus von Liebig Medal from Rudolf Knietsch

Honors

  • Knietschstrasse was named after him in the BASF estates of Limburgerhof and Maxdorf .
  • Honorary doctorate, Dr.-Ing. hc from the Technical University of Dresden.

Web links

Helmut Pfitzner:  Knietsch, Rudolf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 183 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ L. Ruuskanen: Der Heidelberger Bergfriedhof im Wandel der Zeit , Verlag Regionalkultur, 2008, p. 81. Quotation Leena Ruuskanen : The old name (before Lessing) "Grab-Eros" seems appropriate to the sensuality of this grave figure

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personal data
SURNAME Knietsch, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knietsch, Rudolf Theophil Josef (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Opole, today Opole
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1906
Place of death Ludwigshafen am Rhein