Hermann Sprengel

Hermann Johann Philipp Sprengel ( born August 29, 1834 in Schiller location near Hanover, † January 14, 1906 in London ) was a German chemist and physicist.

He worked in the laboratory of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. In 1859 he went to England, where he began his chemical research; initially in Oxford and later in various laboratories in London.

In 1865, he invented a more efficient high vacuum pump, the Sprengel pump. There was an improvement in the first Geissler pump. He let mercury drops drip into a capillary tube. She found application in the manufacture of light bulbs.

In 1871 he patented the Sprengel explosives ( mixtures in which the components are stored separately until use ).

In 1873 he developed the pycnometer.

For gravity measurements and for measuring the expansion of liquids, he developed the U-tube.

Publications

• The Hell Gate explosion and Rackarock; Nature No. 32, October 1885, p 625