Hermann von Fehling

Hermann Christian (from) Fehling ( born June 9, 1811 in Lübeck, † July 1, 1885 in Stuttgart ) was a German chemist. He was known for his discovery of the eponymous evidence for sugar ( Fehling's test ).

Life and work

Fehling, son of Lübeck merchant made ​​, after attending the public school and the high school since 1827 trained as a pharmacist in the pharmacy of the brother of Georg Christian Kindt in Lübeck. From 1835 to 1837 Fehling studied in Heidelberg natural sciences with an emphasis on Chemistry, Leopold Gmelin's assistant and received his doctorate in August 1837 Doctor of Philosophy. He then worked in Giessen in Liebig's laboratory, was his assistant in the fall of 1838 and went to Paris, where he worked with Jean Baptiste Dumas and in the laboratory of the coin.

In 1839 he was appointed to Liebig's proposal for Teachers of Chemistry and Technology, which was founded in 1829 United Secondary and Vocational School in Stuttgart and after two years as head teacher on permanent contracts (10 March 1841). He was thus assimilated by title and rank a school teacher. Connected with the place was the temporary Württemberg citizenship, which he received permanently by marrying to the Swabian professor's daughter Sophie Cleß. Scientific research was not part of his official duties, Fehling led alongside continued from private interest. The school was. Beneath his participation to the Polytechnic School and the 1876 Institute of Technology ( now the University of Stuttgart) Fehling remained for 44 years until his forced retirement by a stroke in 1883.

Fehling, where a significant teaching talent was certified, provided a thorough, practical training his students in the newly established laboratory and was a leader in the former Kingdom of Württemberg. The State University of Tübingen led the laboratory work a few years later.

Fehling's reputation and sphere of influence extended far beyond his teaching. After a life-threatening hemorrhage during a trip in 1854 in Munich, he restricted his laboratory work a clear and finally gave it all up. Then Fehling shifted his focus effect on public office. He was a member of Medizinalkollegiums (since 1870), the pharmaceutical Examination Board and worked as a Technical Council with the Committee and the Commission of the patent in 1848 established center for trade and commerce. This was associated with the management of a technical analytical testing laboratories, the development of numerous technical reports and the examination and settlement of claims.

After unification in 1871 Fehling was a delegate Württemberg in numerous hygienic, pharmaceutical and technical commissions, including the Commission on the revision of the Pharmacopoeia Germanica (1880 ). He was also a member of the jury of all world's fairs from 1846 to 1873.

Fehling mainly dealt with the technical chemistry ( mineral water, saline nature, bread making, Gerbmaterialien ) and public health. For analytical chemistry he developed for the detection of aldehyde groups (especially for carbohydrates ) commonly used Fehling's solution, which made it possible to determine the sugar content of a liquid ( Quantitative determination of sugar in urine, 1848) and devoted the next years of their improvement.

Publications

Fehling's scientific publications have appeared mostly in Liebigs Annalen der Chemie. He is also the author of several sections in the piston ash textbook of organic chemistry, including about carbohydrates, glucosides, dyes, essential oils and protein bodies, and edited since 1896, the 1871 published edition of the New Hand dictionary of chemistry ( published 1874-1930 ), a reference book that the entire chemical knowledge of the time summed up.

Honors

Fehling has received several awards and honors. The King of Wurtemberg gave him on 24 September 1854 Knight's Cross of the Crown, with which the personal nobility was connected. He later received the title of Privy Court Councillor and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Friedrich. To commemorate the opening of a new wing of the Polytechnic, he was awarded a Senior Director of the teaching staff of the title. Shortly before his death, the German Chemical Society appointed him as their Vice President.