How I came to know Wilhelm Ostwald

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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

HOW I CAME TO KNOW WILHELM OSTWALD EBERHARD BRAUER Ostwald Archiv, Haus Energie, Grossbothen, Saxony (Translated by Ralph E. Oesper)

I was a pupil in the third district school in Leipzig, my teacher urged me to enter the nearby Realgymnasium. So, after a short period of preparation by a theology student who was hoarding a t our house, I entered the fourth form on trial-and found myself faced with two entirely new problems. One was the inadequacy of my preparation in Latin, which I had studied under a private tutor. The other was the attitude of my newly acquired school-fellows. At the first marking period my grade in Latin was a poor 4, but a t the second report I received a 2a, and the thiid mark was an excellent 1. To most of my fellow students I long remained an outsider, but not t o the one who accompanied me on the last part of the way to school. There was a good reason for this. He profited from my translations and from my aid in mathematics, and also from the toys which I had made, such as a boat with a rubber-band motor which was tried out in the bathtub of his foster-parents. Another time it was a batch of homemade gunpowder, which he tried out a t the wrong time and place. His justifiably alarmed aunts and foster-mother called me in and thus I, for the first time, entered the home which was to have such a dominant part in my future scientific and personal life. The feminine storm soon blew over and was replaced by a warm interest in my particular lot, and from time to time I was a guest in the Ostwald household. However, I seldom saw Professor Ostwald there. The few times were so impressed on the memory of the young boy, that I still remember clearly all the details of these eventful encounters. For example, on one occasion, he examined the photographic apparatus I had made. I still see him standmg before me, his upright figure, his eyes that often were directed into the far

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distance, his rapid gait, the contrast of hiis reddish beard and the blue of his eyes, the.fresh color of his skin, the thick hair combed straight back. After my school friend had gone back to Riga, my friendship was transferred to the two older Ostwald boys, Wolfgang' (1883-1943) and Walter. Wolfgang's tastes ran to zoology and music. I was a willmg listener to his improvised rambles in the world of music. But I also was the older comrade to these fine boys in the more intimate confines of this German home. With Walter I shared an intense interest in everything driven by a motor, and the yearly automobile shows in the Leipzig Kristallpalast fascinated both of us. consequently, it was almost a matter of course that, after graduation from the secondary school, I would go to study chemistry with Professor Ostwald--especially since he relieved my financial troubles with a stipend. I n the beginning I worked in the analytical division with Professor Julius Wagner. Here I not only learned laboratory methods as such, but I also occasionally helped out some of the older students with their dissertation labors--assistance which gained me many friends. Wilhelm Ostwald had included a student workshop in his new Institut on the LinnBstrasse. While I was still a student in the lower school I had constructed a simple master lock for the large demonstration table of the Realgymnasium; it proved most valuable and gained the approbation of the two teachers. Consequently, the well equipped shop in the Ostwald Institut was most welcome t o me, particularly since Wilhelm Ostwald set us aU an example by work'mg there himself. Each year, the Christmas season was inaugurated in OESPER,R.E., T A ~ SJ o u R N ~22,263 ~ ~ , (1945).

DECEMBER, 1953

the Institut by a large party attended by the Ostwald family, the assistants, and the students.% Professor Ostwald frequently invited foreign personalities to share in these celebrations. The guest gave a lecture on his specialty and then participated in the harmless, good-natured jollification planned by and for the Institut family. The high point of the party was the distribution of the carefully selected humorous gifts. Punch and cakes, prepared by the Ostwald daughters, were another feature of these parties. The younger one, Elsbeth, had attracted my special attention, but it was not until many years later that she became aware of my feelings toward her. The semesters devoted to laboratory courses passed quickly and smoothly. They also brought many occasions on which I made myself useful to Professor Ostwald. For instance, I arranged* his library of reprints, and I also served as assistant in setting up his demonstration experiments, a responsible hut not too arduous duty. At his suggestion, I made some studies of the catalytic synthesis of ammonia from the elements, but the results were not what we had hoped for. In connection with his studies of the periodic phenomena observed in the solution of metallic chromium, I recorded the accompanying electrical behavior as shown by a galvanometer. These findings constituted the basis of my doctoral thesis. After I obtained my degree, Ostwald asked me to stay on as his private assistant. He entrusted to me the studies of the conversion of ammonia into nitric acid. This research was conducted at first on a small scale in the Institut laboratory. He then made arrangements with Professor Will of the Zentralstelle fiir wissenschaftlichtechnische Untersnchungen for technical-scale trials. At Christmas, 1901, I moved to Berlin. I had some hesitation about makimg this move which involved a certain degree of independence. He reassured me by saying, "Just buy yourself a handkerchief and go ahead." I still have this handkerchief. Within a few weeks, an January 27, 1902, a selfprepared, burned-clay plate with a &-in platinum catalyst, produced nitrous vapors from measured airammonia mixtures. However, the matter was not quite so simple; the production of pure nitric acid required several years of uninterrupted labors. The advances and also the setbacks were recounted by Wilhelm Ostwald in the Festschrift of the platinum firm, G . Siebert, under the title "Platin als weltgeschichtlicher Factor." Thinking back to that period when I was working on the catalytic production of nitric acid and when, as Wilhelm Ostwald's assistant, I was attempting to "or an amount of these Christmas festivities see FOULK,C. W., ibid., 11, 355 (1934).

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translate his ideas and suggestions into technical practice, I realize that our personal relationships grea increasingly more intimate, and that his interest in me was not only friendly but bordered on the paternal. Whenever he visited me, he not only discussed the

Wilhelm

ortwald (at the time of his appointment to the chair of phynisal chemistry at t h e University of Leiprig)

problems connected with our researches but brought up matters of more personal interest. For instance, he helped me to acquire for my parents a little orchard plot and cottage, insuring them a pleasant home in which to spend their old age. My bonds with the rest of the Ostwald family also continued most cordial and friendly. .The second son, Walter, shared my bachelor quarters for several months while he was working on the development of a slag gasification process. When, on the other hand, I visited the Ostwald estate at Grosshothen, I could always count on a warm welcome from the Frau Geheimrat, even though she was certainly aware of my poorly concealed interest in her daughter Elsbeth. I t was a long time before I dared declare myself formally as a suitor, but one day I received an encouraging telegram from Frau Ostwald and I then felt free to seek the consent of the young lady of my choice. It was an auspicious star that lighted the way which led the young schoolboy into the Ostwald home, which allowed him to participate in the great master's works as assistant and collaborator, and which finally gave him many years of personal happiness as his son-in-law.