Theodor Petersen

Carl Theodor Petersen (born April 9, 1836 in Hamburg , † December 15, 1918 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German chemist and alpinist .

Theodor Petersen was a co-founder of the Frankfurt Chemical Society and chairman of the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt am Main. In addition, he is regarded as a scientific developer and researcher of the Ötztal Alps . Petersen carried out surveys and first ascents. He was the first central president of the German and Austrian Alpine Club . The Petersenspitze (3472 meters) in the Ötztal Alps was named after him.

Life

Theodor Petersen was the son of the Hamburg merchant Theodor Johann Petersen and Caroline Petersen geb. Kolls. After the great fire of Hamburg in 1842, the family moved to Mainz, where Petersen passed his Abitur in 1852. From 1853 he studied chemistry in Göttingen with Friedrich Wöhler and in Heidelberg with Robert Bunsen .

In 1857 he was promoted to Dr. phil. doctorate and worked as an assistant at the technical college in Karlsruhe. In 1860 he was the founder and owner of a chemical factory in Offenbach , from 1865 owner of a chemical-technical private laboratory in Frankfurt am Main.

From 1880 to 1898 Petersen was several times chairman of the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt am Main, where he created the electrotechnical department and in 1898 initiated the establishment of the first medical X-ray institute. The Electrotechnical Institute of the Physikalischer Verein, founded in 1889, is considered the first electrical engineering school in Germany.

In 1869 Petersen founded the Frankfurt Chemical Society together with Leo Gans , Heinrich Roessler , Julius Ziegler and Ph. Fresenius, of which he became President in 1872. In 1896 Petersen received the title of professor and in 1906 he was made a permanent member of the Physikalischer Verein. In 1879 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Alpine activity

Ötztal Alps east of Similaun (drawing by Theodor Petersen around 1872)

Theodor Petersen was one of the first men in the development of German alpinism. In 1864 he joined the Austrian Alpine Club, which was founded in 1862. After founding the first German Alpine Club in Munich in 1869, he initiated the establishment of the Frankfurt am Main section of the German Alpine Club on September 3, 1869 , which he chaired for 40 years. With a significant contribution from Petersen, the German and Austrian Alpine Associations merged in 1873 at the general assembly in Bludenz to form the German and Austrian Alpine Association. As the first central president, Theodor Petersen ran the business of the new association from 1874 to 1876. In this capacity he was the founder and editor of the Mitteilungen and the magazine from which the yearbook emerged. Both as the central president and as the long-standing president of the Frankfurt am Main section, Petersen unfolded a rich creative activity in the development of associations, the mapping and the development of road and hut construction in the Ötztal Alps, the section area of the Frankfurt am Main section, including those Founding of the Gepatschhaus on July 21, 1873 and the Taschachhaus on July 27, 1874.

In 1883 Petersen published the first German tourist newspaper - a magazine for tourism, geography and natural history.

Travel and first ascents

In the Ötztal Alps, Theodor Petersen undertook the following first ascents together with local mountain guides: 1871 Hintere Ölgrubenspitze , July 22, 1871 Texelspitze , July 10, 1873 Hinterer Brunnenkogel , July 24, 1873 Rofelewand , 1874 Inner Schwarze Schneid , September 24, 1874 Bliggspitze , 28. July 1875 Hintere and Mittlere Hintereisspitze , September 5, 1876 Schwarzwandspitze , September 4, 1886 Verpeilspitze , 1892 Schwabenkopf, August 23, 1893 Rostizkogel .

Petersen's alpine research trips took him to France (ascent of the Grand Pelvoux and Mont Blanc ), to Switzerland (ascent of the Jungfrau and Matterhorn ) and to Italy (1884 ascent of Etna ). Together with the zoologist Wilhelm Kobelt , he traveled to the North African Atlas Mountains .

Personal

Theodor Petersen has been described as personally modest and extremely amiable. Characterizations emphasize his keen speaker skills and love of freedom. He was unmarried and died on December 15, 1918. A relief portrait, designed by Julius Hülsen , decorates his grave of honor in Frankfurt's main cemetery .

Theodor Petersen is the grandson of the Lübeck procurator and court president Johann Georg Petersen (1764-1825), the great-nephew of Johann Friedrich Petersen (1760-1845) and the uncle of the Hanoverian entrepreneur Richard Petersen (1868-1941).

Publications

Publications on organic and analytical chemistry, structural chemistry and mineralogy
alpine articles in the series of the magazine and the communications of the German and Austrian Alpine Association
- Exemplary: Theodor Petersen: From the Oetzthaler Alps - Travel Reports and Topographical Contributions , 1876

Individual evidence

↑ Anneliese Gidl: Alpine Association - The townspeople discover the Alps . Vienna 2007, p. 373.
^ Rudolf Werner Soukop, Andreas Schober: A library as eloquent witness of a comprehensive change in the scientific worldview . Part 1: The authors of the works of Rudolf Bunsen in short biographies , TU Vienna.
↑ Heinz Fricke: 150 years of the Physikalischer Verein Frankfurt am Main . Frankfurt am Main 1984, p. 121.
^ Gerd Sandstede: Contributions of the physical association for the development of technology and natural science .
↑ Member entry of Theodor Petersen at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on January 19, 2016.
↑ Obituary for Prof. Dr. phil. Theodor Petersen, in a report by the Frankfurt am Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club , 1918.
^ Commemorative publication on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Frankfurt am Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club. Frankfurt am Main 1894.
^ Wilhelm Kobelt: Travel memories from Algeria and Tunis . Frankfurt am Main 1885, p. 352.
↑ Theodor Petersen: The Pic des Cedres in the great Algerian Atlas and a view of the Sahara. In: Communications of the German and Austrian Alpine Club, 1887, No. 6, p. 61 ff.
↑ Frankfurt main cemetery: Grave site sponsored, grave site: Won A 61.Retrieved on July 26, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Theodor Petersen - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Theodor Petersen in the catalog of the German National Library

personal data
SURNAME	Petersen, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Petersen, Carl Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German chemist and alpinist
DATE OF BIRTH	April 9, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH	December 15, 1918
Place of death	Frankfurt am Main

[1] Anneliese Gidl: Alpine Association - The townspeople discover the Alps . Vienna 2007, p. 373.

[2] Rudolf Werner Soukop, Andreas Schober: A library as eloquent witness of a comprehensive change in the scientific worldview . Part 1: The authors of the works of Rudolf Bunsen in short biographies , TU Vienna.

[3] Heinz Fricke: 150 years of the Physikalischer Verein Frankfurt am Main . Frankfurt am Main 1984, p. 121.

[4] Gerd Sandstede: Contributions of the physical association for the development of technology and natural science .

[5] Member entry of Theodor Petersen at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on January 19, 2016.

[6] Obituary for Prof. Dr. phil. Theodor Petersen, in a report by the Frankfurt am Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club , 1918.

[7] Commemorative publication on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Frankfurt am Main section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club. Frankfurt am Main 1894.

[8] Wilhelm Kobelt: Travel memories from Algeria and Tunis . Frankfurt am Main 1885, p. 352.

[9] Theodor Petersen: The Pic des Cedres in the great Algerian Atlas and a view of the Sahara. In: Communications of the German and Austrian Alpine Club, 1887, No. 6, p. 61 ff.

[10] Frankfurt main cemetery: Grave site sponsored, grave site: Won A 61.Retrieved on July 26, 2019 .