Otto Unverdorben

Otto Paul Unspoiled ( born October 13, 1806 Dahme / Mark, † November 28, 1873 ibid ) was a businessman and pharmacist in Dahme / Mark and discovered in 1826, the aniline.

Life and work

Otto Unspoiled grew up as the son of wealthy merchants. He completed his schooling in Dresden, then studied in Halle ( Saale), Leipzig and Berlin Chemie. His specialty was the dry distillation of organic substances. 1826 - at the age of twenty years - he succeeded for the first time to produce the very important for the paint and plastic industry raw material aniline by natural indigo underwent a lime distillation. The indigo dye decomposed on distillation. Otto Unspoiled called the product crystallin. The term aniline ( anil = Portuguese for indigo ) not coined Otto unspoiled, but in 1840 the German, active in St. Petersburg chemist Carl Fritzsche after the distillation of indigo with caustic potash. Thus Otto Unspoiled paved the way for a new industry. Some well-known chemical companies still bear his discovery in their name (BASF Badische Aniline and Soda Factory =, = Agfa Aktiengesellschaft for Anilinfabrikation ).

1829 Otto inherited unspoiled in his hometown Dahme the general store of his parents and was no longer involved from then on in chemical research. His service for the city's economy Dahme was the introduction of the cigar industry that the majority of the population with revenue over 100 years. Otto Unspoiled itself, however, was Non smoking.

In 1833, he acquired the manor Glienig ( about 12 km from Dahme ) and was also patron of the local village school.

Honors

Today, the Otto - Unspoiled High School bears his name in Dahme.