Friedrich Woehler

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Friedrich Wöhler, lithograph by Rudolf Hoffmann, 1856
Friedrich Wöhler, engraving
Friedrich Wöhler's grave in Göttingen

Friedrich Wöhler (born July 31, 1800 in Eschersheim (today a district of Frankfurt am Main ), † September 23, 1882 in Göttingen ) was a German chemist .

Life

From 1820 Wöhler studied medicine in Marburg and Heidelberg , from 1821 also chemistry with Leopold Gmelin , who had awakened Wöhler's interest in this subject. In 1823 he completed his medical studies in Heidelberg with a doctorate and from then on concentrated only on chemistry. Gmelin was so impressed by Wöhler's experimental skills in isolating dicyan and cyanuric acid that he arranged for him to do an internship with the renowned chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius in Stockholm from 1823 to 1824 .

From 1825 to 1831 he was a teacher at the Berlin trade school , where he was awarded the title of professor by royal decree on August 21, 1828 for the discovery of urea synthesis. On December 5, 1826, the mayor of Berlin asked him to write a compendium of chemistry for the students; at this time he was already working on the translations of Berzelius' textbook series.

From 1831 to 1836 he taught at the higher industrial school (polytechnic school) in Kassel . It was only after the death of Friedrich Stromeyer in 1836 that Wöhler received his first call for an academic position at a university. It was the chair for chemistry and pharmacy at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen .

Services

The following paragraph is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
"hardly noticed", "creation myth", "vitality", "does not apply, rather is" etc .: The beginning of biochemistry is, as it is now formulated - paperless - pure theory- finding .-- Rote4132 ( discussion ) 00 : Apr 33, 11, 2020 (CEST)

Wohler is considered a pioneer of organic chemistry for his synthesis of oxalic acid by hydrolysis of cyanogen in 1824 and of urea from ammonium cyanate on 22 February 1828. These syntheses opened the field of biochemistry , since for the first time materials that were previously only from living organisms were known , could be artificially generated from “inanimate” matter. At first, these in vitro syntheses were hardly noticed by the chemists. With the increasing success of chemists in the field of synthetic organic chemistry, Wöhler's synthesis was seen as the beginning of this branch of chemistry, with which a “creation myth” of organic chemistry developed around urea synthesis, which is still in many chemistry textbooks, but also historical ones Representations, can be found. The related thesis that Wöhler's synthesis refuted the theory of vitalism , i.e. the view that a transcendent life force ( vis vitalis ) is indispensable for the production of organic matter, does not apply. Rather, it is correct that the urea synthesis provided the impetus for further investigations and thus the concept of life force became increasingly meaningless for chemistry. His oxalic acid synthesis from dicyan was ignored for a long time.

A year earlier, in 1827, he had a reduction method for producing pure aluminum developed (SN) process ; Using the same process, he succeeded in isolating beryllium and yttrium in 1828 and in 1856 in the preparation of crystalline silicon .

Wöhler was close friends with Justus von Liebig , with whom he founded the radical theory in Gießen around 1830 . With it, the great variety of organic-chemical compounds could be systematically explained for the first time (see also history of the substitution reaction ).

Wöhler's pupils such as Ernst Schulze laid another foundation stone for establishing biochemistry as a separate branch of science with their plant-chemical investigations and are today, together with Wöhler, among its founders (see also biochemistry ).

Special cultural and historical documents are the correspondence between him and fellow scientists.

Wöhler is also known as the discoverer of the synthesis of calcium carbide (1862, also identified its hydrolysis product ethyne ), benzoic acid from benzaldehyde and hydroquinone from quinone . He also succeeded in isolating nickel from nickel arsenide .

family

Wöhler was born on July 31, 1800, the son of the veterinarian , agricultural scientist and educator August Anton Wöhler in Eschersheim (today Frankfurt-Eschersheim ). His birthplace , Alt-Eschersheim 71, is now a listed building .

Wöhler had been married to Franziska Wöhler (born September 25, 1811, † June 11, 1832) since his wedding in Kassel in 1830. After her death while giving birth to her second child in 1832, he married Julie Pfeiffer (* July 13, 1813, † December 1, 1886) in Kassel. He had six children (two from his first and four from his second marriage). His daughter Sophie married Georg Merkel (1829–1898) , the Privy Councilor and Lord Mayor of Göttingen .

Original quotes

Letter to Berzelius in 1828: “I cannot, so to speak, hold my chemical water and must tell them that I can make urea without having to have kidneys or an animal in general, be it human or dog. I found that whenever you try to combine cyanic acid with ammonia, a crystallized substance is created that ... neither reacts to cyanic acid nor ammonia ... and nothing more was needed than a comparative study with piss urea, which I always see made it myself, and the cyanurea. If now ... no other product than urea was created, then finally ... the piss urea had to have exactly the same composition as the cyanic ammonia. And this is indeed the case ... "

Literary activities

As a thank you for staying with Berzelius, Wöhler prepared the German translations of 13 Swedish volumes of the “ Textbook for Chemistry ” in the years 1825–1841 .

  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 1.1 (2nd edition 1825), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 2.1 (1st edition 1826), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 2.2 (1st edition 1826), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 3.1 (1st edition 1827), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 3.2 (1st edition 1828), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 4.1 (1st edition 1831), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 4.2 (1st edition 1831), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 5 (3rd edition 1835), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 6 (3rd edition 1837), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 7 (4th edition 1838), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 8 (3rd edition 1839), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 9 (3rd edition 1840), translated by F. Wöhler
  • J. Jakob Berzelius, Textbook of Chemistry, Vol. 10 (3rd edition 1841), translated by F. Wöhler

Wöhler also helped his friend Liebig when he ran into staff shortages in the editorial team of the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie in 1837 .

Professor Dr. At my request, Woehler in Gottingen decided to take an active part in the editing of the Annals from now on. [Liebig quote from the foreword to Volume 26 (1838)]

Until shortly before his death, they jointly published this then unique trade journal.

When in Berlin in 1868 Adolf von Baeyer presented the membership journal Chemical Reports of the German Chemical Society in Berlin , "Messrs. Liebig, Wöhler and Bunsen" were already among the honorary members of this society. In 1877 Wöhler was elected to the board for one year.

Other fonts (selection):

  • Outline of organic chemistry. Braunschweig 1840; 13th ed. 1882.
  • Examples for practicing analytical chemistry. 1849.
  • The mineral analysis in examples. 1861.

Honors

Memorial plaque on the house where he was born in Alt-Eschersheim.
Friedrich Wöhler Monument (1890) in Göttingen
50 Pf - special stamp of the German Federal Post Office (1982)

literature

  • John H. Brooke: Wöhler's Urea and its Vital Force? A verdict from the Chemists. In: Ambix. 15, 1968, ISSN  0002-6980 , pp. 84-114.
  • August Wilhelm von Hofmann : In memory of Friedrich Wöhler. Reports of the German Chemical Society, Vol. 15, 3126 - 3292 (1882), biography ( PDF 8.3 MB ).
  • George B. Kauffman , Steven H. Chooljian: Friedrich Wöhler (1800-1882), on the Bicentennial of his Birth. In: The Chemical Educator. 6, 2001, ISSN  1430-4171 , pp. 121-133.
  • Robin Keen: The Life and Work of Friedrich Wöhler (1800–1882) (= Edition Lewicki-Büttner 2). Bautz, Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-88309-224-X (also: London, Univ. College, Diss., 1976).
  • Arthur Kötz :  Wöhler, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 711-717.
  • Douglas McKie: Wöhler's synthetic urea and the rejection of Vitalism: a chemical Legend. In: Nature . 152, 1944, pp. 608-610.
  • Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke : Wöhler, Friedrich. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1501.
  • Peter J. Ramberg: The Death of Vitalism and the Birth of Organic Chemistry. Wöhler's Urea Synthesis and the Disciplinary Identity of Organic Chemistry. In: Ambix. 47, 1967, pp. 170-215.
  • Wilhelm Rothert : General Hannoversche Biography , Volume 2: In the Old Kingdom of Hanover 1814–1866 ; Hanover: Sponholtz, 1914, pp. 500–504
  • Georg Schwedt : The chemist Friedrich Wöhler (1800-1882). A biographical search for traces. Frankfurt am Main, Marburg and Heidelberg, Stockholm, Berlin and Kassel, Göttingen. HisChymia-Buchverlag et al., Seesen et al. 2000, ISBN 3-935060-01-7 .
  • Johannes Uray: The Wöhler urea synthesis and the scientific worldview. Analysis of a myth (= University of Graz. Series of habilitations, dissertations and diploma theses. Vol. 22). Graz, Leykam 2009, ISBN 978-3-7011-0096-5 (also: Graz, Univ., Diploma thesis, 2005).
  • Johannes Uray: The Wöhler urea synthesis and the scientific worldview. Analysis of a Myth. In: humans, science, magic. 27, 2010, ISSN  1609-5804 , pp. 121-152.
  • Johannes Uray: Myth of urea synthesis. In: News from chemistry . 57, 2009, ISSN  1439-9598 , pp. 943-944.
  • Johannes Valentin: Friedrich Wöhler (= Great Natural Scientist 7, ISSN  0072-7741 ). Scientific publishing company, Stuttgart 1949.
  • Friedrich Wöhler: Youth memories of a chemist. Reports of the German Chemical Society in Berlin, eighth year, part 1 (1875, January - July), pp. 838 - 852, autobiographical report from his stay in Sweden 1823-24 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Wöhler  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Friedrich Wöhler  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Great moments in early chemistry, p. 226 Berlin Chronicle 1828
  2. ↑ 1826 Request from the Mayor of Berlin to the chemistry teacher Wöhler
  3. ^ University of Göttingen
  4. ^ Burchard Franck: 250 years of chemistry in Göttingen . In: Hans-Heinrich Voigt (Ed.): Natural sciences in Göttingen. A series of lectures . Vandenhoeck + Ruprecht Gm, Göttingen 1988, ISBN 3-525-35843-1 ( Göttinger Universitätsschriften . Volume 13), p. 72 ( limited preview in Google book search and limited preview in Google book search).
  5. ↑ Friedrich Wöhler succeeds in urea synthesis on br.de
  6. ↑ Huber, MJ (2008): Structure, stability and functionalization of metalloid aluminum clusters Cuvillier Verlag.
  7. ^ Letters from Wöhler-Liebig, 1829–1873 Letters from Wöhler-Berzelius 1838–1848
  8. ↑ Adolf Baring : The Baring family, especially the Hanoverian line, with 22 illustrations and a coat of arms in: German Roland Book for Gender Studies , published by the "Roland" Association for the Promotion of Stamm-, Wappen- und Siegelkunde EV, 1st volume, Dresden 1918 , P. 65.
  9. ^ Chemistry today, Schroedel Verlag, class 9/10. Chapter 3: Chemistry of Hydrocarbons. Digression on page 64, ISBN 978-3-507-86192-3 .
  10. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Friedrich Wöhler (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 12, 2016.
  11. ^ List of former members since 1666: Letter W. Académie des sciences, accessed on March 16, 2020 (French).
  12. ↑ Mindat - Wöhlerite
  13. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Friedrich Wöhler. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed August 10, 2015 (Russian).
  14. ^ Entry on Wohler, Friedrich (1800 - 1882) in the archive of the Royal Society , London
  15. ^ Member entry by Friedrich Wöhler (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on December 28, 2015.
  16. ^ THE ORDER POUR LE MERITE FOR SCIENCE AND ARTS, The members of the order, Volume I (1842–1881), p. 254, Gebr.-Mann-Verlag, Berlin, 1975.
  17. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 24, 2020 .
  18. ^ The Wöhler monument in Göttingen, digitized on Gallica
  19. ^ Alfred Oberdiek: Göttinger Universitätsbauten, 2002, p. 53
  20. ↑ Wöhlerstr. in Leverkusen
  21. ^ Address book Federal City of Bonn 2000/2001, p. IVu-35.
  22. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Wöhler, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH Eschersheim near Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1882
Place of death Goettingen