Johann Wilhelm Ritter

Johann Wilhelm Ritter ( born December 16, 1776 in Samitz at Haynau, Silesia, † January 23, 1810 in Munich) was a German physicist and philosopher of the early Romantic period.

" Johann Wilhelm Ritter is the most outstanding figure among the naturalists of the early Romantic period in culture Jena -Weimar. Although self-taught, he was appreciated by people such as Goethe, Herder, Humboldt and Brentano as a research partner. " As a physicist, he discovered in 1801 the UV radiation and invented in 1802 the first accumulator, the Rittersche charge column.

Life

In April 1796, a student enrolled at the University of Jena, named Johann Wilhelm Ritter. He noted in the matriculation that he was born on December 16, 1776 in the Silesian Samitz. There he had visited up to 14 years the Latin school, was then in a Liegnitzer pharmacy apprentice and have been for several years as provisor. In the Thuringian university city knights now operational in no way a controlled study of the then usual kind He rather remained in his little room and introduced himself scientific tasks, such as about " the real presence of lime in raw bones." Finally he got up in the waters of the then general interest in galvanism. His first such treatise were " ten sheets of the most interesting comments" A. v. Humboldt's work on irritated muscle and nerve fibers.

On October 29, 1797 Knight spoke in front of the Natural History Society in Jena "On galvanism: some results from previous studies about it, and as finite: the discovery of a principle operating throughout the living and dead nature." His remarks were very well received, but when he was in hall the manuscript sent Johann Christian Reil to reprint in the " Archives of Physiology ", he got the job back with the note that 'such a remark was too brash and other the like ".

The young scientist was not discouraged, deepened with new experiments further his knowledge of the galvanic processes. In the Thuringian region knight was soon recognized as a naturalist, which of course he did again and again rubbed with the scientists confirmed from universities and academies. In 1799 he founded the magazine " contributions in writing, to the knowledge of the galvanism approach ". In it, he put among other things is derived from his independent investigations considerations that the galvanic processes are always bound to oxidation and reduction. Ritter therefore belongs together with Theodor Grotthuss (1785-1822) to the actual founders of the electro -chemical theory to which they provided independently contributions.

Many many of Knight's discoveries are virtually unnoticed until now. Blame he had himself because he used a lengthy presentation, reminiscent of the writings of the Romantics, with whom he associated in Jena. He has Situated as the first contemporary so-called voltaic power law in May 1801 so months before it formulated the later namesake deficient. In the same year he invented the drying column and two years later he constructed with his charge column of the preform Akkumulators.1802 he discovered at the end of the spectrum of visible light, the ultraviolet rays.

In the fall of 1804 Knight finally received the longed-for permanent work and the official scientific recognition that it brought, but by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, which accepted him as a full member and gave him the opportunity to continue his research. ( The picture above shows him possibly in a Bavarian uniform. ) From 1806 he turned under the influence of Theosophists FX von Baader researching the so-called underground electrometry, the Rutengängerei to. Extensively he ran such experiments, which his scientific reputation among colleagues was of course not consolidated.

In 1808 he took a first and last issue on Siderismus (see also divining rod ) out, then think about a system of natural forces in which all conceivable phenomena should be captured. However, he only came to approaches for scarcely 33 years old, he died on January 23, 1810 in Munich, contributed to by the galvanic self-experiments carried out on his body.

Writings

• Fragments, from the estate of a young physicist. A Handbook for nature lovers. Heidelberg 1810.

Newly edited and with an afterword by Steffen and Birgit Dietzsch, publisher Gustav Kiepenheuer, Leipzig and Weimar, 1984, ISBN 3-7833-6401-9. - This is not to his or her estate after death, but a self-compiled from Ritter collection of his physical and poetic sketches and aphorisms.

• Discoveries for Electrochemistry, Bioelectrochemistry and photochemistry. Series: Ostwald's classic of the exact sciences, Volume 271

Selection, introduction and explanation of Hermann Berg and Klaus Richter, publisher Harri German, Thun and Frankfurt / Main 1997, ISBN 3-8171-3271-9. - This book collects his most important scientific papers, including the invention of the battery and the discovery of ultraviolet light.