Wilhelm Will

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Wilhelm Will, around 1910

Karl Wilhelm Will (born  April 12, 1854 in Gießen , †  December 30, 1919 in Berlin ) was a German chemist . From 1892 he worked as a professor at the University of Berlin and from 1889 at the Central Research Center for Explosives of the Prussian War Ministry and from 1898 as director of the Central Office for Scientific and Technical Investigations in Berlin-Neubabelsberg, a research facility of the German explosives and ammunition industry. The focus of his research was the development and improvement of explosives .

Life

Wilhelm Will was born in Giessen in 1854 as the son of the chemist Heinrich Will , the successor to Justus von Liebig at the University of Giessen . He graduated from high school and then studied natural sciences at Giessen University from 1872. After the state examination for higher teaching qualifications , which he acquired in 1876 together with his doctorate , he went to the chemical institute of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin , where he worked as a lecture assistant under August Wilhelm von Hofmann , a friend of his father's, and from 1880 onwards worked as head of the analytical department. In 1883 he received his habilitation in Berlin , and his lectures as a private lecturer included analytical chemistry , physical chemistry , selected areas of organic chemistry and the history of chemistry . Nine years later he was appointed associate professor for chemistry at Berlin University.

From 1889 he also worked in the newly founded Central Research Center for Explosives of the Prussian War Ministry , which was called the Research Center for Explosives from 1896 and the Military Research Office from 1897 and which he managed from 1893 and as director from 1897. One year after his appointment as director, he gave up this position to take over the management of the central office for scientific and technical investigations in Berlin-Neubabelsberg , which had been newly created by several German explosives and ammunition companies , which he then held until his death. With the beginning of the First World War he led the 12th replacement battalion on the Eastern Front with the rank of captain of the Landwehr . After he was recalled from there in November 1914 at the instigation of Emil Fischer , he was a member of the artillery examination commission until the end of the war . During this time he submitted the work of the Neubabelsberg central office to the army administration.

Wilhelm Will was married to a niece of the chemist Adolph Strecker from 1892 and was the father of a son and a daughter who later married a son of the industrialist and politician Hugo Stinnes . In addition to his professional activities, he worked in various secondary offices, for example from 1894 as a non-permanent member of the Imperial Patent Office and as a lifelong member of the board of the Deutsches Museum in Munich . From 1912 to 1914 he was President of the German Chemical Society . He died in Berlin in 1919.

Scientific work

Wilhelm Will, who published more than 80 scientific publications during his career , was primarily interested in organic chemistry and initially in the investigation of plant compounds such as glucosides , hesperidin , naringin and various alkaloids . Later in his career, he turned to explosives such as cellulose nitrate , nitroglycerine and picric acid . Among other things, he tried to replace the cotton used for the production of nitrocellulose with cellulose obtained from wood . In 1914 he described the synthesis of hexanitroethane . His most important achievement in the field of explosives chemistry is the development of so-called “solvent-free nitroglycerin powder”.

Awards

Wilhelm Will was a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina from 1888 and was appointed secret councilor in 1904 . He was awarded "for his investigations to examine and stabilize the nitrocellulose" a Grand Prix of the World Expo 1910 in Brussels as well as "for the photographic representation of explosion flames and their evaluation to assess the impact weather risk" to contribute to the prevention of coal mine gas explosions in mining , a double Grand Prix during the 1911 World Exhibition in Turin . The Technical University of Charlottenburg, which later became the Technical University of Berlin , awarded him an honorary doctorate on the occasion of his 60th birthday .

Works (selection)

  • The progress of blasting technology since the development of organic chemistry. Berlin 1904
  • About technical methods of testing explosives. Halle on the Saale in 1906
  • About glycerin nitrates. Berlin 1908

literature

  • Friedrich Lenze: Wilhelm Will †. In: Journal of Applied Chemistry. 33rd year. Issue 34 of April 27, 1920, pp. 101/102
  • Bernhard Lepsius: Wilhelm Will: A memorial sheet . In: Reports of the German Chemical Society. 54th year. Issue 9 of October 15, 1921, pp. A204 – A268

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Will, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Will, Karl Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH to water
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1919
Place of death Berlin