Werner von Bolton
Werner von Bolton (born April 8, 1868 in Tbilisi , † October 28, 1912 in Berlin ) was a German chemist and materials scientist . He invented a manufacturing process for filaments made of tantalum , which from 1905 replaced the previously common carbon filaments .
Life
Werner von Bolton studied chemistry in Berlin (Charlottenburg, Technische Hochschule Berlin ) and Leipzig and initially worked as a working student for Siemens & Halske , where he received his doctorate in 1895 . In 1896 he became head of a laboratory in Glühlampenwerk of Siemens & Halske .
In 1902, Bolton discovered the advantages of the chemical element tantalum (Ta) as a material for the production of filaments: Incandescent lamps with tantalum filaments had a longer useful life and were more luminous with lower power consumption (higher luminous efficacy ) than lamps with carbon filaments. Another advantage was the improved shock resistance; this simplified u. a. shipping the lamps.
He worked on the practical implementation with his colleague Otto Feuerlein . 1903 he succeeded pure tantalum in vacuum - arc furnace with water-cooled nickel electrodes to melt. Siemens launched Bolton's filament in their tantalum lamp in January 1905. By 1914, over 50 million pieces had been produced worldwide using the Bolton and Feuerlein process.
Starting in 1910, the tantalum lamp was gradually replaced by the incandescent lamp with tungsten filament that is still common today due to the work of William David Coolidge (highest melting point and thus the best luminous efficiency of all metals), for which Siemens acquired the manufacturer's license from the USA at that time .
In 1905, Siemens & Halske handed over the management of the company's first central laboratory to Bolton, which later became the Physico-Chemical Laboratory.
Werner von Bolton died in Berlin in 1912 at the age of 44. His grave in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Cemetery in Berlin-Westend has been preserved. The grave complex in the style of factual reform art is made of shell limestone. The semi-oval back wall has two barely legible inscription panels and a coat of arms relief.
literature
- Sigfrid von Weiher: Bolton, Werner. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 435 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Werner von Bolton , in: Karl HP Bienek (Hrsg.): The Siemensstadt - A lexicon of Siemensstadt in Berlin
- Werner von Bolton: La découverte du tantale ( Memento from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ W. von Bolton: The value of mercury and copper in electrolytes of various concentrations . Orphanage, Halle 1895, OCLC 43417173 (inaugural dissertation, University of Leipzig, 1895).
- ↑ Werner von Bolton, Otto Feuerlein: The tantalum lamp, a new incandescent lamp from Siemens & Halske A.-G. In: Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift 26, No. 4, 1905, p. 105.
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 471.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bolton, Werner von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 8, 1868 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tbilisi |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 28, 1912 |
| Place of death | Berlin |