EDMUND 0. VON LIPPMANN (1857-
?ate ~ontributedby Dr.
)
Ralph E. Oesper, of the University o Gncmnat~, see page 535. Dr. Oesper also lent the photograph here reproduced.
For biographic?l
NOVEMBER, 1936 EDMUND 0. VON LIPPMANN* ALL historians of chemistry are non-professional in the sense that none of them entirely derives his income from this discipline, but the purest amateur of them all is a successful technologist who, for many years, made a serious avocation of this labor of love. The title "Grand Old Man of Chemical Historians" undisputedly belongs to Edmund von Lippmann, who, born January 9, 1857, is now in his eightieth year, and whose current contributions give ample evidence that the vigor of his mind has not only remained unimpaired but actually increases as the years pass over his head. The first stage of his serious education was received in his natal city, Vienna, where a t the K. K. Akademische Gymnasium be was given a thorough grounding in the classics, an acquisition that has made possible many of his historical studies. His father, owner of a sugar factory and refinery, however, knew the advantages of a technical training, and after two years a t the Gymnasium, the young man was enrolled in the Chemical Division of the Technical High School a t Ziirich. Here, for three years, he enjoyed the rare privilege of seeing in action two great scientists and teachers, Georg Lunge and Victor Meyer, and he carried with him to Heidelberg, where be took his doctorate under Bunsen in 1878, an indelible impressionr of what a school can do for its students. von Lippmann, now ready to gain practical experience, spent the next two years in the sugar industry of Austro-Hungary, and did so well that he was called back to Germany to introduce the Steffen process of recovering sugar from molasses. He advanced rapidly in his profession, put into operation the new strontium process, and after directing several refineries was, in 1890, asked to head the refinery a t Halle, one of the largest in Gemany. This post he filled with eminent success until he reached the age of seventy, when he re-
* See frontispiece.
tired from active professional life, and has since devoted himself almost entirely to his historical studies. While a t Zurich, von Lippmann was one of three, later the only listener, to a two-year course of lectures on the history of chemistry. The interest aroused by Professor W. Weith never faded; on the contrary, the fire grew and the great sugar technologist in time developed a reputation as an historian that doubtless will endure long after his technical achievements are forgotten. As was natural, be began with the history of sugar, but this led him into topics of more general interest. A score of important books and hundreds of periodical articles have come from his pen. A perusal of the titles of his writings reveals an astounding catholicity of interests, an examination of the documentation shows the amazing breadth of his reading, and yet most of his work is successfully geared to the capabilities of the average chemist w'ho is merely a layman in matters historical. The most important of his books are: "Chemie der Zuckerarten;" "Geschichte des Zuckers;" "Geschichte des Wismuts;" "Geschichte der Magnetnadel bis 1200;" "Urzeugung und Lebenskraft;" and the monumental "Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie." In 1927, an international Festschrift was issued in honor of his seventieth b i i d a y , and several Americans were proud to participate in this testimonial. From 1925 to 1933 he served as honorary professor of history of chemistry a t the University of Halle. He is a member of the academies of Leipzig and Halle, honorary member of many learned societies, degrees have been conferred on him by several universities, the first Sudhoff and Coste medals were awarded to him, and the Berlin Academy of Sciences honored him with its highest distinction, the Leibnitz Medal. (Contributed by Ralph E. Oesper, Uniwersity of Cincinnati.)
