Alwin Mittasch

Paul Alwin Mittasch ( Upper Sorbian Pawoł Alwin Mitaš; * December 27, 1869 in Großdehsa today to Lobau, † June 4, 1953 in Heidelberg ) was a chemist who claimed primarily for his pioneering and systematic research at BASF for ammonia synthesis was the Haber -Bosch process famous.

Life

Alwin Mittasch was born the son of a teacher in the Sorbian agricultural village Großdehsa in Upper Lusatia. He suggested first also the teaching career and began from 1892 sideline at the University of Leipzig with the study of history, philosophy, psychology and science. In 1901 he received his doctorate in chemistry as a graduate student at Max Bodenstein and Wilhelm Ostwald.

Work

After working in the mining industry Mittasch began in 1904 at BASF, where he became an assistant of Carl Bosch. In 1909 Mittasch began with the systematic search for a catalyst for ammonia production based on iron oxide, which resulted in approximately 20,000 tests were carried out for optimization. The catalyst found (iron (II / III ) oxide Fe3O4, K2O, CaO, Al2O3 and SiO2) made ​​possible the large-scale synthesis of ammonia and remains almost unchanged in use. Mittasch rose to become director of research at BASF and received numerous honors for his work, including an honorary doctorate by the universities of Munich and TH LWH Berlin, and was appointed professor by the government of Baden- Württemberg.

In honor of the work of Alwin Mittasch DECHEMA regularly awards the Alwin Mittasch Prize (formerly Alwin Mittasch Medal) for outstanding achievements in the field of catalysis research.

Works

• History of ammonia synthesis, Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, 1951, 196 pages

Honors

Him a street Alwin Mittasch road and in Ludwigshafen square was named after him in the Maxdorfer BASF settlement in honor.