Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten

Alois Beckh Widmanstätten of, with full name and title Alois Franz Xaver Joseph Beckham, Edler von Widmanstetten, ( born July 12, 1754 Graz, † June 10, 1849 in Vienna ) was an Austrian scientist.

Life

Beckh Widmanstätten of studied natural sciences at the Karl- Franzens- University of Graz. As a result, he took over from his father the family print shop, which he enlarged and extended by a Schriftsetzerei.

During this time he devoted himself to further the natural sciences. Shortly after the Montgolfier brothers, he also led in Vienna by experiments with hot air balloons, which already rose 200 feet high. These attempts were not pursued further.

By Josephine reforms he lost the monopoly of printing and was suddenly exposed to a competitive situation. Complemented by dissensions in the family he lost interest in the print shop. First, he leased them, but eventually sold it in 1807 to Andreas Leykam, who thus became its publisher with the most important publisher in Graz.

Already in 1804 he took over the management of Pottendorfer spinning, which he resigned in 1807. At the urging of Emperor Francis I, he became director of the newly founded kk Factory products Cabinet, which was initially in the Imperial Palace, and later at the Palais Sprintzenstein in the first district. In this exhibition, many new products from the territory of the Empire of Austria were pre- shows from the just beginning industry.

When considering to relocate the collection to a new building, he met with Karl Franz Anton Schreiber, who ran the mineral collection at the Imperial Palace, together. In this collection, there were also numerous exhibits of stones that fell from the sky. So also Widmanstätten on the meteorite was attentive and began numerous attempts were ground in which these iron parts or etched with nitric acid and appeared lamellar pattern. As a result he made from these patterns by means of printer's ink and prints. His discoveries he never published even though. In works by his friend writer she later became known as Widmanstättensche figures.

The Cabinet products should be integrated into those of today's University of Technology. He was there to get a professorship, but he did not accept because he felt as a humiliation. Finally, he went with John of Austria and Louis of Austria - Tuscany to England.

In 1817 he retired and still occasionally drawn as an expert for advice, but lived retired. At his request he was never painted, so that today there is no picture of him. In 1849 he died. To him, the lunar crater Widmann sites and the asteroid ( 21564 ) Widmanstätten are named in honor.