Hermann SprengelFRS (29 August 1834 – 14 January 1906) was a German-British chemist who discovered the explosive nature of picric acid in 1873, patented safety explosives and invented the mercurial air pump.
Lifeedit
He was born at Schillerslage, near Hanover, on 29 August 1834.[1] Sprengel was the son of George Sprengel. He was educated in Göttingen and earned his degree at the university at Heidelberg in 1858. He moved to England the following year and became a naturalised British subject.
He was first employed as an assistant in chemical laboratory in Oxford and then moved to London to work at Guy's and St Bartholomew's Hospitals, before working in the chemical works of Thomas Farmer of Kennington (1865-1870). There he invented a generic class of materials called Sprengel explosives. In addition he invented a very robust and continuously operable device called the Sprengel Pump[2][3] which could reduce the amount of air in a chamber to one-millionth of its volume paving the way for the filament light bulb.[4]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878. His candidature citation read "Distinguished as a Chemist and Physicist. Author of the following researches.
(1) Ueber einen neuen Lothrohrapparat (Pogg Ann v 112 1861)
(2) On the detection of Nitric Acid (J Ch Soc 1865)
(3) Researches on the vacuum (J Ch Soc 1865)
(4) On determining the weight of heterogeneous liquids (J Ch Soc 1866)
(5) Improvements in the preparation of Explosive compounds
(6) The water air-pump (Phil Mag, 1873)
(7) An Air-bath of constant temperature between 100 degrees & 200 degrees C (J Ch Soc 1873)
(8) A method of determining the Specific Gravity of liquids with ease & great exactness (J Ch Soc 1873 & Pogg Ann 1874)
(9) A new class of explosives which are non-explosive during their manufacture storage & transport (J Ch Soc 1873)
(10) Use of water "atomiser" in production of Sulphuric Acid (Ch News 1875)."[5]
He died at 54 Denbigh Street, London, S.W., on 14 January 1906, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery. He had never married.[1]
hermann, sprengel, august, 1834, january, 1906, german, british, chemist, discovered, explosive, nature, picric, acid, 1873, patented, safety, explosives, invented, mercurial, pump, life, edithe, born, schillerslage, near, hanover, august, 1834, sprengel, geor. Hermann Sprengel FRS 29 August 1834 14 January 1906 was a German British chemist who discovered the explosive nature of picric acid in 1873 patented safety explosives and invented the mercurial air pump Life editHe was born at Schillerslage near Hanover on 29 August 1834 1 Sprengel was the son of George Sprengel He was educated in Gottingen and earned his degree at the university at Heidelberg in 1858 He moved to England the following year and became a naturalised British subject He was first employed as an assistant in chemical laboratory in Oxford and then moved to London to work at Guy s and St Bartholomew s Hospitals before working in the chemical works of Thomas Farmer of Kennington 1865 1870 There he invented a generic class of materials called Sprengel explosives In addition he invented a very robust and continuously operable device called the Sprengel Pump 2 3 which could reduce the amount of air in a chamber to one millionth of its volume paving the way for the filament light bulb 4 He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878 His candidature citation read Distinguished as a Chemist and Physicist Author of the following researches 1 Ueber einen neuen Lothrohrapparat Pogg Ann v 112 1861 2 On the detection of Nitric Acid J Ch Soc 1865 3 Researches on the vacuum J Ch Soc 1865 4 On determining the weight of heterogeneous liquids J Ch Soc 1866 5 Improvements in the preparation of Explosive compounds 6 The water air pump Phil Mag 1873 7 An Air bath of constant temperature between 100 degrees amp 200 degrees C J Ch Soc 1873 8 A method of determining the Specific Gravity of liquids with ease amp great exactness J Ch Soc 1873 amp Pogg Ann 1874 9 A new class of explosives which are non explosive during their manufacture storage amp transport J Ch Soc 1873 10 Use of water atomiser in production of Sulphuric Acid Ch News 1875 5 He died at 54 Denbigh Street London S W on 14 January 1906 and was buried in Brompton Cemetery He had never married 1 References edit a b nbsp This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain James T E 1912 Sprengel Hermann Johann In Lee Sidney ed Dictionary of National Biography 2nd supplement London Smith Elder amp Co Sella Andrea Classic Kit Sprengel pump Thompson Silvanus Phillips 1888 The Development of the Mercurial Air pump London E amp F N Spon pp 14 15 Hermann Sprengel Bryson Bill 2010 At Home London New York Toronto Sydney Auckland Doubleday pp 141 ISBN 978 0 385 60827 5 Library and archive Catalogue Royal Society Retrieved 1 March 2012 Further reading editMessel Rudolph 1907 Hermann Johann Philipp Sprengel Journal of the Chemical Society 91 661 663 Guthrie Andrew 1963 Vacuum Technology New York and London John Wiley and Sons Inc nbsp nbsp nbsp This article about a German chemist is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Hermann Sprengel amp oldid 1178917179, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
