Charles Adolf Würz ( Fr. Charles Adolphe Wurtz ; November 26, 1817 , Strasbourg - May 12, 1884 , Paris ) - French chemist, member of the Paris Academy of Sciences ( 1867 ) and its president since 1881, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences ( 1873 ).
Charles Adolf Würz | |
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Charles Adolphe Wurtz | |
Date of Birth | November 26, 1817 |
Place of Birth | Strasbourg |
Date of death | May 12, 1884 (66 years) |
Place of death | Paris |
A country | France |
Scientific field | chemistry |
Place of work | |
Alma mater | University of Strasbourg |
Famous students | |
Known as | one of the founders of synthetic chemistry in organic chemistry |
Awards and prizes | Faraday Lecture (1879) Copley Medal (1881) |
Content
Biography
Charles Adolf Würz spent his childhood in Wolfisheim, where his father was a Lutheran pastor, and his mother, Sofia Kreiss, an educated woman, was engaged in his upbringing and gave his son such qualities as a lively, joyful character and good nature.
In 1834, Würz graduated from a Protestant gymnasium in Strasbourg , and his father allowed him to study medicine instead of theology. Würz decided to link his life with chemistry and as a result achieved such success in this area that in 1839 he was appointed head of chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Strasbourg [1] .
After receiving his doctoral degree in 1843 (the dissertation on albumin and fibrin , which he studied during the year in Gissein under the direction of Justus Liebig ), Würz moved to Paris, where he began working in the private laboratory of Jean-Baptiste Dumas , who became his supervisor. In 1845, Würz became an assistant at the School of Medicine and four years later began reading organic chemistry there. The chemical laboratory at the School of Medicine was very poor, so Würz had to open his own. The Würz Laboratory was formed in 1850 on Garancier Street, but shortly thereafter the house was sold, and Würz was forced to abandon this laboratory.
In 1850, Würz was appointed professor of chemistry at the New Institute of Agronomy at Versailles, but in 1852 the institute was closed by Napoleon III . The following year, the faculty of organic chemistry became vacant at the Faculty of Medicine due to the departure of Dumas, as well as the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and Toxicology due to the care of Mathieu Orfil . These departments were merged into one, the head of which was appointed Würz. Not far from the lecture hall, Würz illegally allocated a place for a chemical laboratory and ordered his students to pay for their studies, which led to condemnation from the administration of the academy. For 30 years, 155 students, mostly foreigners, studied in his laboratory because, becoming an ardent supporter of atomism, Würz secured international recognition and on June 9, 1864 was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society of London . From August 1864 to April 1865, he hosted the young Russian chemist Alexander Mikhailovich Zaitsev , who worked with carboxylic acid derivatives.
In 1866, Würz was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. In this post, he sought to restructure and renovate buildings in order to make them suitable for the scientific and modern teaching of chemistry. Würz insisted that the laboratories needed to be properly equipped, since in this respect France was far behind Germany. As dean, Würz recognized the rights of women (among them Madeleine Brez and Marie Putnam) for higher education courses and research at the Faculty of Medicine. He was also director of research within the 2nd Division of the Practical School of Higher Studies.
In 1875, Würz left the post of dean, but received the title of Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Würz became the first owner of this title at the Department of Organic Chemistry, the creation of which at the Sorbonne, he contributed. But he had great difficulties in order to obtain a suitable laboratory, which was never created until his death, which occurred in Paris in 1884.
Würz was an honorary member of almost all scientific societies in Europe. He was one of the founders of the Chemical Society in Paris (1858), became its first secretary and served as president three times. In 1880, he became vice-president, and in 1881 - president of the Academy of Sciences, of which Würz became a member in 1867, following Teofil-Jules Pelouz . In 1881, Würz became a real estate senator.
Career
Würz was
- Dean of the School of Medicine in Paris from 1866 to 1875,
- senator of real estate since 1881,
- a member of the Academy of Medicine (1856)
- Member of the Academy of Sciences (1867)
- laureate of the Faraday Readings of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1879.
Charles Adolf Würz is known for the following works:
- the study of compounds associated with the use of ammonia and glycols; he discovered ethylene glycol in 1859
- obtaining aldol, colorless aldehyde
- theory of the arrangement of atoms in organic compounds
Works of Würz
Würz’s works relate mainly to organic chemistry , which he enriched with the discovery of new compounds and new general methods of synthesis. In 1849, Würz, acting caustic potassium on the methyl and ethyl esters of isocyanic and isocyanuric acids, obtained methylamine and ethylamine , the simplest representatives of a number of fatty amines . In 1855, Würz proposed a general method (later called Würz) for the synthesis of saturated hydrocarbons by the action of metallic sodium on alkyl halides [2] . In 1856, Würz synthesized ethylene glycol — the first of dihydric alcohols, or glycols; in 1859, ethylene chlorohydrin and, upon processing with caustic potassium, ethylene oxide , which served as a starting material for the synthesis of amino alcohols, choline (1867) and neurin (1869). In 1867, Würz obtained phenol (carbolic acid) by fusing benzenesulfonic acid with a caustic alkali. In 1872 Würz described aldol condensation [3] . Würz was a staunch supporter of the advanced trends in the chemistry of his time - the atomic-molecular theory and the theory of the chemical structure of A. M. Butlerov , the proliferation of which he contributed. He understood the great importance of the periodic law of DI Mendeleev and promoted his recognition abroad. All textbooks and monograph Würz received at one time widespread.
Proceedings
- Leçons élémentaires de chimie moderne, Paris, Masson, 1867-1868; dernière édition revue et augmentée, 1892 (Elementary lessons of modern chemistry).
- Dictionnaire de chimie pure et appliquée, Hachette, Paris, 5 tomes, 1869-1874; 1er suppl., 2 tomes, 1880 et 1886; 2e suppl., 7 tomes, 1892-1908 (Dictionary of Theoretical and Applied Chemistry).
- La Théorie atomique, préface de Charles Friedel, Librairie G. Baillière, 4e éd., Paris, 1879 (Atomic theory).
- Traité de chimie biologique, 1885 (Treatise on biochemistry).
- Contribution to chemical and physical chronicles.
Memory
- A monument to Charles Adolf Würz was erected on the square in front of the entrance to the church of Saint-Pierre-le-Zhen in Strasbourg, not far from his home.
- In 1886, the engraver Alie Dubois (link) issued a medal with his image, a copy of which is stored in the Carnival Museum.
- The name Würz is on the list of 72 names of the most prominent French scientists and engineers, placed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
- Since 1893, the street in the 13th arrondissement of Paris is named after Würz.
- In Strasbourg, the name Würz is a street in the county of Krüteno.
- In honor of Würz named street in Wolfisayme.
- The name Wurtz named the reaction that he discovered together with the German chemist Rudolf Fittig - Würz-Fittig synthesis - a method of combining organic halides.
- The mineral wurtzite is named after Würz, a kind of zinc blende.
See also
- Reaction wurtz
- Wurtz nozzle
Notes
- ↑ Goldstein M. Yu. Würz, Charles-Adolph // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ Wurz A. Ueber eine neue Klasse organizer Radicale // Justus Liebigs Annalen der Chemie. 1855. B. 96. H. 3. S. 364-375. DOI : 10.1002 / jlac.18550960310
- ↑ Wurtz CA Sur un aldéhyde-alcool // Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences. 1872. T. 74. No. 22. P. 1361.
Links
- Profile of Charles-Adolf Würz on the official website of the Russian Academy of Sciences