Wilhelm August Lampadius

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Wilhelm August Lampadius: German postage stamp from 1991 for the World Gas Congress in Berlin

Wilhelm August Eberhard Lampadius (born August 8, 1772 in Hehlen , Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , † April 13, 1842 in Freiberg , Kingdom of Saxony ) was a German metallurgical engineer , chemist and agronomist .

Live and act

Göttingen memorial plaque for Lampadius

Lampadius, who lost his father at the age of five and grew up with relatives, showed a noticeable interest in the processes of nature as a child. In 1785, he trained as a pharmacist in Göttingen Ratsapotheke, from 1789 he studied at the University . His teachers included Johann Friedrich Gmelin and Georg Christoph Lichtenberg .

In 1791 Lampadius accompanied Count Joachim von Sternberg on a research trip to Russia . He then got a job as a chemist in the Count's ironworks in Radnitz ( Bohemia ). Lampadius came to the Freiberg Bergakademie in 1793 , where he took over the professorship for chemistry and metallurgy two years later as the successor to Christlieb Ehregott Gellert . In 1796 he discovered carbon disulfide . At the same time he set up the first chemical-metallurgical internship laboratory at the Bergakademie and was one of the first to offer courses in analytical chemistry.

From 1799 Lampadius worked on the production of luminous gas ( Boffzen rectory ). In 1811 he installed a gas lantern on his house in Freiberg - the first of its kind on the European continent. Today there is a memorial plaque and a copy of the lantern at this point. In 1816 Lampadius set up a facility for generating light gas in the Halsbrücke amalgamation plant, which was in operation until 1895.

  • Plaque

  • Replica of the first Lampadius gas lantern

  • Notice board on the corner of Kirch-Gäßchen / Obermarkt in Freiberg

Grave of Wilhelm August Lampadius in Freiberg

Lampadius was a versatile scientist. He also dealt with meteorology , with the extraction of beet sugar and the production of artificial fertilizers. For decades, he carried out cultivation experiments with agricultural crops on a small experimental farm. He was the first to use tar to make roofing felt . He placed particular emphasis on the connection between theory and practice in his fields.

Lampadius, who was philosophically oriented towards Kant , was liberal and interested in music; he founded an aesthetic association in Freiberg and had numerous famous visitors such as Goethe and Alexander von Humboldt . He was a member of the Freemason's lodge "To the three mountains". Lampadius died in Freiberg in 1842 and was buried in the Donatsfriedhof .

Publications (selection)

Monument in Freiberg
  • Brief presentation of the most excellent theories of fire ... Verlag Dieterich Göttingen 1793. ( digitized version )
  • Experiments and observations on the electricity and heat of the atmosphere . Verlag Nicolai Stettin 1793. ( digitized version )
  • Collection of practical chemical treatises and mixed comments , 3 vols., Dresden and Göttingen 1795, 1797 a. 1800. (Digital copies: Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3 )
  • Experiences with the beet sugar ... Craz Freiberg publishing house 1800.
  • Handbook of chemical analysis of mineral bodies . Verlag Craz Freiberg 1801. ( digitized version )
  • Handbook of general metallurgy, in theoretical and practical terms . 2 volumes in 5 parts, Verlag Dieterich Göttingen 1801–1810. 2nd ed. 1817 u. 1818. - 2 supplement volumes 1818–1826.
  • Systematic outline of atmosphericology . Verlag Craz and Gerlach Freiberg 1806 ( digitized version ). - Addendum ibid. 1817.
  • Floor plan of the technical chemistry ... Verlag Craz and Gerlach Freiberg 1815. ( digitized version )
  • Outline of electrochemistry . Verlag Craz and Gerlach Freiberg 1817. ( digitized version )
  • About the sulfur alcohol . Craz & Gerlach, Freiberg 1826. ( digitized version )
  • Floor plan of a general metallurgy ... Verlag Dieterich Göttingen 1827. ( digital copy )
  • The doctrine of mineral fertilizers ... Verlag Barth Leipzig 1833. ( digitized version )
  • The recent advances in the field of the entire metallurgy in supplements to the outline of general metallurgy . Verlag Engelhardt Freiberg 1839. ( digitized version )

literature

  • Günther Arnold: Famous personalities from our homeland - Wilhelm August Lampadius . In: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter 5/1982, pp. 111–112.
  • Günther Beer: Wilhelm August E. Lampadius . In: Göttinger Chemische Gesellschaft Museum der Chemie eV, pp. 1–28, 2011 ( PDF )
  • Richard Dietrich:  Lampadius, Wilhelm August. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 456 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Gerd Grabow : WA Lampadius, a versatile scientist and pioneer in the introduction of the first gas lighting system on the European continent , in: Bergknappe 32 (2008) 2, pp. 40–41 ( digitized version of the entire issue ; PDF file; 3.2 MB ).
  • Albert Ladenburg :  Lampadius, Wilhelm August . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1883, p. 578 f.
  • O. Nolte: Wilhelm August Lampadius, a forgotten agricultural chemist . In: The nutrition of the plant vol. 22, 1926, pp. 202-204, 206-207, 213-214 and 216–217 (with picture).
  • Jörg Richter: Lampadius and Freiberg : Freiberg's metallurgy in the age of the industrial revolution (1800 to 1870). - Freiberg: Bergakademie, 1972. (Publications of the Scientific Information Center of the Bergakademie Freiberg; 54).
  • Jörg Richter: Wilhelm August Lampadius - a teacher and researcher at the Bergakademie . In: Contributions to the history of the productive forces, Vol. IX. Freiberg: Bergakademie, 1975, pp. 15-27 (Freiberger Forschungshefte; D 90).
  • Walter Schellhas : The first gas preparation plant on the European mainland - in Halsbrücke near Freiberg . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter. Vol. 21, 1975, pp. 160-164.
  • Alfred Seifert: Wilhelm August Lampadius. A predecessor of Liebig. A contribution to the history of university chemistry teaching . Verlag Chemie Berlin 1933 (with picture and list of publications).
  • Hans-Henning Walter (Ed.): Wilhelm August Lampadius. 1772-1842. Chemist, inventor, specialist writer and metalworker . Drei-Birken-Verlag, Freiberg 2013. ISBN 978-3-936980-29-5 .

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Lampadius, Wilhelm August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lampadius, Wilhelm August Eberhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German metallurgical engineer, chemist and agronomist
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Hehlen , Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , Weser Uplands
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1842
Place of death Freiberg , Kingdom of Saxony