1.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
2.
Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
3.
Buenos Aires
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Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina. The city is located on the shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata. The city of Buenos Aires is neither part of Buenos Aires Province nor the Provinces capital, rather, in 1880, after decades of political infighting, Buenos Aires was federalized and removed from Buenos Aires Province. The city limits were enlarged to include the towns of Belgrano and Flores, the 1994 constitutional amendment granted the city autonomy, hence its formal name, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Its citizens first elected a chief of government in 1996, previously, Buenos Aires is considered an alpha city by the study GaWC5. Buenos Aires quality of life was ranked 81st in the world and one of the best in Latin America in 2012 and it is the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America. Buenos Aires is a top tourist destination, and is known for its preserved Spanish/European-style architecture, Buenos Aires held the 1st Pan American Games in 1951 as well as hosting two venues in the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Buenos Aires will host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics and the 2018 G20 summit, Buenos Aires is a multicultural city, being home to multiple ethnic and religious groups. Several languages are spoken in the city in addition to Spanish, contributing to its culture, the hill was known to them as Buen Ayre, as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city, which is adjacent to swampland. During the siege of Cagliari, the Aragonese built a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary on top of the hill, in 1335, King Alfonso the Gentle donated the church to the Mercedarians, who built an abbey that stands to this day. In the years after that, a story circulated, claiming that a statue of the Virgin Mary was retrieved from the sea after it miraculously helped to calm a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, the statue was placed in the abbey. Spanish sailors, especially Andalusians, venerated this image and frequently invoked the Fair Winds to aid them in their navigation, a sanctuary to the Virgin of Buen Ayre would be later erected in Seville. Pedro de Mendoza called the city Holy Mary of the Fair Winds, mendoza’s settlement soon came under attack by indigenous people, and was abandoned in 1541. For many years, the name was attributed to a Sancho del Campo, a second settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who sailed down the Paraná River from Asunción. Garay preserved the name chosen by Mendoza, calling the city Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Aire. The short form Buenos Aires became the common usage during the 17th century, the usual abbreviation for Buenos Aires in Spanish is Bs. As. It is common as well to refer to it as B. A. or BA /ˌbiːˈeɪ/ bee-AY), while BA is used more by expats residing in the city, the locals more often use the abbreviation Baires, in one word. Seaman Juan Díaz de Solís, navigating in the name of Spain, was the first European to reach the Río de la Plata in 1516 and his expedition was cut short when he was killed during an attack by the native Charrúa tribe in what is now Uruguay
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Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
5.
Leipzig University
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Leipzig University, in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the worlds oldest universities and the second-oldest university in Germany. Famous alumni include Leibniz, Goethe, Ranke, Nietzsche, Wagner, Angela Merkel, Raila Odinga, Tycho Brahe, and nine Nobel laureates are associated with the university. The university was founded on December 2,1409 by Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and his brother William II, Margrave of Meissen, since its inception, the university has engaged in teaching and research for over 600 years without interruption. The university was modelled on the University of Prague, from which the German-speaking faculty members withdrew to Leipzig after the Jan Hus crisis, the Alma mater Lipsiensis opened in 1409, after it had been officially endorsed by Pope Alexander V in his Bull of Acknowledgment on. Its first rector was Johann von Münsterberg, from its foundation, the Paulinerkirche served as the university church. After the Reformation, the church and the buildings were donated to the university in 1544. As many European universities, the university of Leipzig was structured into colleges responsible for organising accommodation, among the colleges of Leipzig were the Small College, the Large College, the Red College, the College of our Lady and the Pauliner-College. There were also private residential halls, the colleges had jurisdiction over their members. The college structure was abandoned later and today only the names survive, during the first centuries, the university grew slowly and was a rather regional institution. This changed, however, during the 19th century when the university became an institution of higher education. At the end of the 19th century, important scholars such as Bernhard Windscheid, Leipzig University was one of the first German universities to allow women to register as guest students. At its general assembly in 1873, the Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein thanked the University of Leipzig and this was the year that the first woman in Germany obtained her JD, Johanna von Evreinov. Many of the alumni became important scientists. Under Nazi rule many Jews degrees were cancelled, some were reinstated as Karl-Marx University degrees by the GDR. The university was open throughout World War II, even after the destruction of its buildings. After the destruction of most of the buildings and the majority of its libraries and this is what must be preserved as the great repository of value in the university. By the end of the war 60 per cent of the buildings and 70 per cent of its books had been destroyed. The university reopened after the war on February 5,1946, in 1948 the freely elected student council was disbanded and replaced by Free German Youth members
6.
Bergius process
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The Bergius process is a method of production of liquid hydrocarbons for use as synthetic fuel by hydrogenation of high-volatile bituminous coal at high temperature and pressure. It was first developed by Friedrich Bergius in 1913, in 1931 Bergius was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of high pressure chemistry. The coal is ground and dried in a stream of hot gas. The dry product is mixed with heavy oil recycled from the process, catalyst is typically added to the mixture. A number of catalysts have been developed over the years, including tungsten or molybdenum sulfides, tin or nickel oleate, alternatively, iron sulphides present in the coal may have sufficient catalytic activity for the process, which was the original Bergius process. There are also considerations with respect to global warming, especially if coal liquefaction is conducted without carbon capture, the mixture is pumped into a reactor. The reaction occurs at between 400 and 500 °C and 20 to 70 MPa hydrogen pressure, the reaction produces heavy oils, middle oils, gasoline, and gases. The overall reaction can be summarized as follows, n C + H2 ⟶ C n H2 n −2 x +2 The immediate product from the reactor must be stabilized by passing it over a conventional hydrotreating catalyst. The product stream is high in naphthenes and aromatics, low in paraffins, the different fractions can be passed to further processing to output synthetic fuel of desirable quality. If passed through a process such as Platforming, most of the naphthenes are converted to aromatics, the liquid product from Platforming will contain over 75% aromatics and has a Research Octane Number of over 105. Overall, about 97% of input carbon fed directly to the process can be converted into synthetic fuel, however, any carbon used in generating hydrogen will be lost as carbon dioxide, so reducing the overall carbon efficiency of the process. There is a residue of unreactive tarry compounds mixed with ash from the coal, to minimise the loss of carbon in the residue stream, it is necessary to have a low-ash feed. Typically the coal should be <10% ash by weight, the hydrogen required for the process can be also produced from coal or the residue by steam reforming. A typical hydrogen demand is ~80 kg hydrogen per ton of dry, generally, this process is similar to hydrogenation. The output is at three levels, heavy oil, middle oil, gasoline, the middle oil is hydrogenated in order to get more gasoline and the heavy oil is mixed with the coal again and the process restarts. In this way, heavy oil and middle oil fractions are also reused in this process, the most recent evolution of Bergius work is the 2-stage hydroliquefaction plant at Wilsonville AL which operated during 1981-85. Here a coal extract was prepared under heat and hydrogen pressure using finely pulverized coal, as the coal molecule is broken down, free radicals are formed which are immediately stabilized by absorption of H atoms from the donor solvent. Part of the product is hydrogenated donor solvent which is returned to Stage I
7.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. This award is administered by the Nobel Foundation and awarded by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on proposal of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry which consists of five elected by Academy. The award is presented in Stockholm at a ceremony on December 10. The first Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 1901 to Jacobus Henricus van t Hoff, of the Netherlands, for his discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions. From 1901 to 2016, the award has been bestowed on a total of 174 individuals, though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895. Nobel bequeathed 94% of his assets,31 million Swedish kronor, to establish. Due to the level of surrounding the will, it was not until April 26,1897 that it was approved by the Storting. The executors of his will were Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, the members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that were to award the Peace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. The prize-awarding organisations followed, the Karolinska Institutet on June 7, the Swedish Academy on June 9, the Nobel Foundation then reached an agreement on guidelines for how the Nobel Prize should be awarded. In 1900, the Nobel Foundations newly created statutes were promulgated by King Oscar II, according to Nobels will, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences were to award the Prize in Chemistry. The committee and institution serving as the board for the prize typically announce the names of the laureates in October. The prize is awarded at formal ceremonies held annually on December 10. The highlight of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm is when each Nobel Laureate steps forward to receive the prize from the hands of His Majesty the King of Sweden, the Nobel Laureate receives three things, a diploma, a medal and a document confirming the prize amount. Later the Nobel Banquet is held in Stockholm City Hall, a maximum of three laureates and two different works may be selected. The award can be given to a maximum of three recipients per year and it consists of a gold medal, a diploma, and a cash grant. The Nobel Laureates in chemistry are selected by a committee that consists of five elected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In its first stage, several people are asked to nominate candidates
8.
Wilhelm Exner Medal
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The Wilhelm Exner Medal has been awarded by the Austrian Industry Association, Österreichischer Gewerbeverein, for excellence in research and science since 1921. In 1921, ÖGV established the Wilhelm Exner Medal, an Austrian award presented each year, the award dedicated to Wilhelm Exner, who was honorary president of ÖGV and professor of engineering with an exceptional influence on the policies in education and industry. The Wilhelm Exner Medal is awarded to scientists and researchers that have had a impact on business and industry through their scientific achievements. The award was created to honor the 60th anniversary of Wilhelm Exners association with ÖGV, since the Wilhelm Exner Medal was established, over 230 inventors, researchers and scientists have been honored, including 21 Nobel Prize awardees. The medal has a diameter of 7.5 cm and is made of bronze, sir Gregory Winter,2015 Thomas J. R. Hughes,2014 Joseph M
9.
Chemistry
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Chemistry is a branch of physical science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter. Chemistry is sometimes called the science because it bridges other natural sciences, including physics. For the differences between chemistry and physics see comparison of chemistry and physics, the history of chemistry can be traced to alchemy, which had been practiced for several millennia in various parts of the world. The word chemistry comes from alchemy, which referred to a set of practices that encompassed elements of chemistry, metallurgy, philosophy, astrology, astronomy, mysticism. An alchemist was called a chemist in popular speech, and later the suffix -ry was added to this to describe the art of the chemist as chemistry, the modern word alchemy in turn is derived from the Arabic word al-kīmīā. In origin, the term is borrowed from the Greek χημία or χημεία and this may have Egyptian origins since al-kīmīā is derived from the Greek χημία, which is in turn derived from the word Chemi or Kimi, which is the ancient name of Egypt in Egyptian. Alternately, al-kīmīā may derive from χημεία, meaning cast together, in retrospect, the definition of chemistry has changed over time, as new discoveries and theories add to the functionality of the science. The term chymistry, in the view of noted scientist Robert Boyle in 1661, in 1837, Jean-Baptiste Dumas considered the word chemistry to refer to the science concerned with the laws and effects of molecular forces. More recently, in 1998, Professor Raymond Chang broadened the definition of chemistry to mean the study of matter, early civilizations, such as the Egyptians Babylonians, Indians amassed practical knowledge concerning the arts of metallurgy, pottery and dyes, but didnt develop a systematic theory. Greek atomism dates back to 440 BC, arising in works by such as Democritus and Epicurus. In 50 BC, the Roman philosopher Lucretius expanded upon the theory in his book De rerum natura, unlike modern concepts of science, Greek atomism was purely philosophical in nature, with little concern for empirical observations and no concern for chemical experiments. Work, particularly the development of distillation, continued in the early Byzantine period with the most famous practitioner being the 4th century Greek-Egyptian Zosimos of Panopolis. He formulated Boyles law, rejected the four elements and proposed a mechanistic alternative of atoms. Before his work, though, many important discoveries had been made, the Scottish chemist Joseph Black and the Dutchman J. B. English scientist John Dalton proposed the theory of atoms, that all substances are composed of indivisible atoms of matter. Davy discovered nine new elements including the alkali metals by extracting them from their oxides with electric current, british William Prout first proposed ordering all the elements by their atomic weight as all atoms had a weight that was an exact multiple of the atomic weight of hydrogen. The inert gases, later called the noble gases were discovered by William Ramsay in collaboration with Lord Rayleigh at the end of the century, thereby filling in the basic structure of the table. Organic chemistry was developed by Justus von Liebig and others, following Friedrich Wöhlers synthesis of urea which proved that organisms were, in theory
10.
University of Hanover
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The University of Hannover, officially the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, short Leibniz Universität Hannover, is a public university located in Hannover, Germany. Founded in 1831, it is one of the largest and oldest science, in the 2014/15 school year it enrolled 25,688 students, of which 2,121 were from foreign countries. It has nine faculties which offer 190 full and part degree programs in 38 fields of study, the University is named after Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the 18th century mathematician and philosopher. Leibniz Universität Hannover is a member of TU9, an association of the nine leading Institutes of Technology in Germany and it is also a member of the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research, a non-profit association of leading engineering universities in Europe. The university sponsors the German National Library of Science and Technology, the roots of the University of Hanover begin in the Higher Vocational College/Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1831. In 1879 the Higher Vocational School moved into the historic Guelph Palace, the Welfenschloss, later, the Higher Vocational School became the Royal College of Technology. In 1899 Kaiser Wilhelm II granted the College of Technology a status equal to that of universities, the College was reconstructed in 1921 with the financial support of the College Patrons’ Association. There were three faculties, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, in 1968 the Faculty of Humanities and Political Science were founded and the College of Technology became the Technische Hochschule. Student numbers exceeded 30,000 for the first time in 1991, on the 175th anniversary of the institution in 2006, the University of Hannover was given the name Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover. While 64 pupils first attended the Vocational School, today the university now has around 25.700 students, more than 2.900 academics and scientists, the Senate of the University voted in April 2006 to rename the University of Hannover to Leibniz Universität Hannover. Following agreement by the Leibniz Academy on the use of the name, the brand of the university is Leibniz Universität Hannover. The old logo of the University was inspired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the current logo is a stylized excerpt from a letter to Duke Rudolf August of Wolfenbüttel, in which Leibniz presented binary numbers for the first time. Nine faculties with more than 190 first-degree full-time and part-time degree courses make the university the second-largest institution of education in Lower Saxony. The university staff comprises 2930 research and teaching staff, of whom 321 are professors and it has 1810 additional employees in administrative functions,90 apprentices and some 1400 staff funded by third parties. It expanded into an important collection as the institution evolved from a college into the full University. The removal of the books into storage during the Second World War secured valuable old stocks that became a national collection of scientific. This was the basis on which the library of the Institute of Technology was established in 1959, today the collection forms the heart of the German National Library of Science and Technology, which is the largest institution of its kind in the world. GISMA Business School in Hannover, Germany, was launched in 1999 as a joint initiative by the state of Lower Saxony, GISMA is a privately funded, self-administering institution of higher education
11.
Arthur Rudolf Hantzsch
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Arthur Rudolf Hantzsch was a German chemist. Hantzsch studied chemistry in Dresden and graduated at the University of Würzburg under Johannes Wislicenus, as a professor, he taught at the Universities of Zürich, Würzburg und Leipzig. The Hantzsch pyridine synthesis, a multi-component organic reaction, is named after him and his surname is correctly pronounced /Haːntʃ/
12.
Richard Abegg
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Richard Wilhelm Heinrich Abegg was a German chemist and pioneer of valence theory. He proposed that the difference of the positive and negative valence of an element tends to be eight. This has come to be known as Abeggs rule and he was a gas balloon enthusiast, which caused his death at the age of 41 when he crashed in his balloon in Silesia. Abegg received his PhD on July 19,1891 as the student of August Wilhelm von Hofmann at the University of Berlin. Abegg learned organic chemistry from Hofmann, but one year after finishing his PhD degree he began researching physical chemistry while studying with Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald in Leipzig, Germany. Abegg later served as assistant to Walther Nernst at the University of Göttingen. Abegg discovered the theory of freezing-point depression and anticipated Gilbert Newton Lewiss octet rule by revealing that the lowest and highest oxidation states of elements differ by eight. He researched many topics in chemistry, including freezing points, the dielectric constant of ice, osmotic pressures, oxidation potentials. Richard Abegg was the son of Wilhelm Abegg and Margarete Friedenthal and he had a brother, Wilhelm Abegg, who became the Prussian Secretary of State. After attending Wilhelm High School in Berlin, Abegg studied organic chemistry at the University of Kiel and he then attended the University of Berlin, from which he received his doctorate as the student of August Wilhelm von Hofmann. In 1895, he married Line Simon, who also a ballooning enthusiast. Abegg occupied himself with photography and balloon excursions and he was the initiator and chairperson of the Silesian Club for Aeronautics in Breslau. Furthermore, he had a function with the presidency of the German Air Sailors Association. During school, Abegg fulfilled his duties in the military, in 1891, he became an officer of the German Reserves. In 1900, he became an Oberleutnant in the Reserves in the 9th Regiment of Hussars, during this year, he made his first flight in a balloon, for military purposes. Balloon flights became a frequent pastime of both Abegg and his wife and he made many scientific observations during his subsequent flights, which were never published. In 1894, Abegg worked as an assistant to Walther Nernst, one of the founders of chemistry and, at the time. In 1897, he took a position as a professor of chemistry at the University of Breslau, two years later, Abegg became a Privatdozent at the Wrocław University of Technology in Wrocław, Poland
13.
Chemist
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A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties, chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms. Chemists carefully measure substance proportions, reaction rates, and other chemical properties, the word chemist is also used to address Pharmacists in Commonwealth English. Chemists may specialize in any number of subdisciplines of chemistry, materials scientists and metallurgists share much of the same education and skills with chemists. The roots of chemistry can be traced to the phenomenon of burning, fire was a mystical force that transformed one substance into another and thus was of primary interest to mankind. It was fire that led to the discovery of iron and glasses, after gold was discovered and became a precious metal, many people were interested to find a method that could convert other substances into gold. This led to the protoscience called alchemy, the word chemist is derived from the New Latin noun chimista, an abbreviation of alchimista. Alchemists discovered many chemical processes that led to the development of modern chemistry, Chemistry as we know it today, was invented by Antoine Lavoisier with his law of conservation of mass in 1783. The discoveries of the elements has a long history culminating in the creation of the periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry created in 1901 gives an excellent overview of chemical discovery since the start of the 20th century. Jobs for chemists usually require at least a degree, but many positions, especially those in research. At the Masters level and higher, students tend to specialize in a particular field, postdoctoral experience may be required for certain positions. Workers whose work involves chemistry, but not at a complexity requiring an education with a degree, are commonly referred to as chemical technicians. Such technicians commonly do such work as simpler, routine analyses for quality control or in clinical laboratories, there are also degrees specific to become a Chemical Technologist, which are somewhat distinct from those required when a student is interested in becoming a professional Chemist. A Chemical technologist is more involved in the management and operation of the equipment and they are part of the team of a chemical laboratory in which the quality of the raw material, intermediate products and finished products is analyzed. They also perform functions in the areas of quality control. The higher the level achieved in the field of Chemistry, the higher the responsibility given to that chemist. Chemistry, as a field, have so many applications that different tasks/objectives can be given to workers/scientists with these different levels of education and/or experience
14.
Synthetic fuel
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Common methods for manufacturing synthetic fuels include the Fischer Tropsch conversion, methanol to gasoline conversion, or direct coal liquefaction. As of July 2009, worldwide commercial synthetic fuels production capacity was over 240,000 barrels per day, the term synthetic fuel has several different meanings and it may include different types of fuels. More traditional definitions, e. g. definition given by the International Energy Agency, a number of synthetic fuels definitions include fuels produced from biomass, and industrial and municipal waste. Depending on the context, methanol, ethanol and hydrogen may also be included, Synthetic fuels are produced by the chemical process of conversion. Basic conversion methods include carbonization and pyrolysis, hydrogenation, and thermal dissolution, Direct conversion of coal to synthetic fuel was originally developed in Germany. The Bergius process was developed by Friedrich Bergius, yielding a patent in 1913, karl Goldschmidt invited him to build an industrial plant at his factory the Th. Indirect coal conversion was developed in Germany by Franz Fischer. During World War II, Germany used synthetic oil manufacturing to produce substitute oil products by using the Bergius process, the Fischer–Tropsch process, and other methods. The Bergius process plants were Nazi Germanys primary source of high-grade aviation gasoline, synthetic oil, synthetic rubber, synthetic methanol, synthetic ammonia, nearly one third of the Bergius production was produced by plants in Pölitz and Leuna, with 1/3 more in five other plants. Synthetic fuel grades included T. L. fuel, first quality aviation gasoline, aviation gasoline, and gasoline - middle oil. By early 1944, German synthetic fuel production had reached more than 124,000 barrels per day from 25 plants, four new hydrogenation plants were subsequently erected at Bottrop-Welheim, Gelsenkirchen, Pölitz, and, at 200,000 tons/yr Wesseling. Nordstern and Pölitz/Stettin used bituminous coal, as did the new Blechhammer plants, heydebreck synthesized food oil, which was tested on concentration camp prisoners. In July 1944, the Cuckoo project underground synthetic oil plant was being carved out of the Himmelsburg North of the Mittelwerk, but the plant was unfinished at the end of WWII. Indirect Fischer-Tropsch technologies were brought to the US after World War 2, and a 7,000 barrels per day plant was designed by HRI, the plant represented the first commercial use of high-temperature Fischer Tropsch conversion. It operated from 1950 to 1955, when it was shut down when the price of oil dropped due to enhanced production, in 1949, a demonstration plant for converting coal to gasoline was built and operated by the U. S. Bureau of Mines in Louisiana, Missouri. Direct coal conversion plants were developed in the US after World War II, including a 3 TPD plant in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. In later decades the Republic of South Africa established an oil company including a large synthetic fuel establishment. There are numerous processes that can be used to produce synthetic fuels and these broadly fall into three categories, Indirect, Direct, and Biofuel processes
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Coal
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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen. A fossil fuel, coal forms when plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time, throughout history, coal has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat, and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, the extraction of coal, its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, since 1983, the worlds top coal producer has been China. In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal –47. 7% of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production, in 2015 other large producers were United States, India, European Union and Australia. The word originally took the col in Old English, from Proto-Germanic *kula. In Old Turkic languages, kül is ash, cinders, öčür is quench, the compound charcoal in Turkic is öčür kül, literally quenched ashes, cinders, coals with elided anlaut ö- and inflection affixes -ülmüş. At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas, due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed, the temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation and this trapped the carbon in immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal, as coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization. The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal formation, the exception is the coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae, in its dehydrated form, peat is a highly effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on land and water. It is also used as a conditioner for soil to make it able to retain. Lignite, or brown coal, is the lowest rank of coal, jet, a compact form of lignite, is sometimes polished and has been used as an ornamental stone since the Upper Palaeolithic
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Nobel Prize
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The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895, the prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901. Medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold, between 1901 and 2016, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 579 times to 911 people and organisations. With some receiving the Nobel Prize more than once, this makes a total of 23 organisations, the prize ceremonies take place annually in Stockholm, Sweden. Each recipient, or laureate, receives a medal, a diploma. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics. The prize is not awarded posthumously, however, if a person is awarded a prize and dies before receiving it, though the average number of laureates per prize increased substantially during the 20th century, a prize may not be shared among more than three people. Alfred Nobel was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden and he was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. In 1894, Nobel purchased the Bofors iron and steel mill and this invention was a precursor to many smokeless military explosives, especially the British smokeless powder cordite. As a consequence of his patent claims, Nobel was eventually involved in a patent infringement lawsuit over cordite, Nobel amassed a fortune during his lifetime, with most of his wealth from his 355 inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous. In 1888, Nobel was astonished to read his own obituary, titled The merchant of death is dead, as it was Alfreds brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature. The article disconcerted Nobel and made him apprehensive about how he would be remembered and this inspired him to change his will. On 10 December 1896, Alfred Nobel died in his villa in San Remo, Italy, Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime. He composed the last over a year before he died, signing it at the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895, Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets,31 million SEK, to establish the five Nobel Prizes. Because of skepticism surrounding the will, it was not until 26 April 1897 that it was approved by the Storting in Norway. The executors of Nobels will, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, formed the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobels fortune, Nobels instructions named a Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize, the members of whom were appointed shortly after the will was approved in April 1897. Soon thereafter, the other prize-awarding organisations were designated or established and these were Karolinska Institutet on 7 June, the Swedish Academy on 9 June, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 11 June. The Nobel Foundation reached an agreement on guidelines for how the prizes should be awarded, and, in 1900, in 1905, the personal union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved
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Carl Bosch
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Carl Bosch was a German chemist and engineer and Nobel laureate in chemistry. He was a pioneer in the field of industrial chemistry and founder of IG Farben. Carl Bosch was born in Cologne, Germany to a successful gas and his uncle Robert Bosch pioneered the development of the spark plug. Carl, trying to decide between a career in metallurgy or chemistry, studied at the Königlich Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg and the University of Leipzig from 1892–1898. Carl Bosch attended the University of Leipzig, and this is where he studied under Johannes Wislicenus, after he left In 1899 he took an entry level job at BASF, then Germanys largest chemical and dye firm. The fully developed system is called the Haber–Bosch process and his contribution was to make this process work on a large industrial scale. To do this, he had to construct a plant and equipment that would function effectively under high gas pressures, there were many more obstacles as well, such as discovering a practical catalyst, designing large compressors and safe high-pressure furnaces. A means was needed to provide pure hydrogen gas in quantity as the feedstock, also, cheap and safe means had to be developed to clean and process the product ammonia. The first full-scale Haber-Bosch plant was erected in Oppau, Germany, with the process complete he was able to synthesize large amounts of ammonia, which was available for the industrial and agricultural fields. In fact, this production has increased the agricultural yields throughout the world, after World War I Bosch extended high-pressure techniques to the production of synthetic fuel and methanol. In 1925 Bosch helped found and was the first head of IG Farben and he received the Siemens-Ring in 1924 for his contributions to applied research and his support of basic research. In 1931 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Friedrich Bergius for the introduction of high pressure chemistry, today the Haber–Bosch process produces 100 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer every year. Bosch, a critic of many Nazi policies, was relieved of his high positions after Hitler became chancellor. The Haber–Bosch Process today consumes more than one percent of energy production and is responsible for feeding roughly one-third of its population. On average, one-half of the nitrogen in a human body comes from synthetically fixed sources, Bosch was an ardent collector of insects, minerals, and gems. His collected meteorites and other mineral samples were loaned to Yale University and he was an amateur astronomer with a well-equipped private observatory. The asteroid 7414 Bosch was named in his honour, Carl Bosch along with Fritz Haber were voted the worlds most influential chemical engineers of all time by members of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. In 1931 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the contribution to the invention of high pressure methods
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IG Farben
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IG Farben was a German chemical and pharmaceutical industry conglomerate. Its name is taken from Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AktienGesellschaft, the company was formed in 1925 from a number of major chemical companies that had been working together closely since World War I. During its heyday, IG Farben was both the largest company in Europe overall and the largest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world, IG Farben scientists made fundamental contributions to all areas of chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry. Notably IG Farben scientists discovered the first antibiotic, fundamentally reformed medical research, otto Bayer discovered the polyaddition for the synthesis of polyurethane in 1937. Several IG Farben scientists were awarded Nobel Prizes, Carl Bosch and Friedrich Bergius were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931 in recognition of their contributions to the invention and development of chemical high pressure methods. Gerhard Domagk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939 for the discovery of the effects of prontosil. Kurt Alder was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1950 for his discovery, following the Nazi takeover of Germany, the company became embroiled in the Nazi regimes policies as a large government contractor. In 1951, IG Farben was split into its four largest original constituent companies, the current main successor companies are AGFA, BASF, Bayer and Sanofi. IG Farben was founded on 9 December 1925, as a merger of the six companies. Weiler Ter Meer At the beginning of the 20th century, the German chemical industry dominated the market for synthetic dyes. Weiler-ter Meer concentrated on high-quality specialty dyes, in 1913, these eight firms produced almost 90% of the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80% of their production abroad. Because of this situation, the economic historian Alfred Chandler called the German dye companies the worlds first truly managerial industrial enterprises. With the world market for synthetic dyes and other chemical products dominated by the German industry, although cartels were attempted, they lasted at most for a few years. Others argued for the formation of a pool or Interessen-Gemeinschaft. In contrast, the chairman of Bayer, Carl Duisberg, argued for a merger. During a trip to the United States in the spring of 1903 he had visited several of the large American trusts such as Standard Oil, U. S. Steel, International Paper and Alcoa. In 1904, after having returned to Germany he proposed a merger of the producers of dye and pharmaceuticals in a memorandum to Gustav von Brüning. Hoechst and several pharmaceutical firms refused to join, instead, Hoechst and Cassella made an alliance based on mutual equity stakes in 1904
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
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German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
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Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
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Province of Silesia
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As a Prussian province, Silesia became part of the German Empire during the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871. The territory on both sides of the Oder river formed the part of the Prussian kingdom. It furthermore included the part of Upper Lusatia around Görlitz and Lauban. In the northeast, Upper Silesia bordered on remaining Congress Poland, the incorporated Upper Lusatian strip of land in the west touched the remaining territory of the Saxon kingdom. Immediately after the coronation of Maria Theresa as Bohemian queen regnant, King Frederick the Great of Prussia had invaded Silesia, attempts by Maria Theresa to regain the crown land in the Second Silesian War failed and she ultimately had to relinquish her claims by the Treaty of Dresden. As the lands had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, the character of the provinces eastern third, Upper Silesia, had been much lesser shaped by the medieval German Ostsiedlung. According to the census of 1905, about three-quarters of the Silesian inhabitants were German–speaking, the Upper Silesian Industrial Region was the second largest industrial agglomeration of the German Empire after the Ruhr area. Ethnic tensions rose on the eve of World War I, with politicians like Wojciech Korfanty separating from the Centre Party, after the war, the parts remaining in Weimar Germany were re-organized into the two provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia in 1919. Further, in 1920 the Hlučín Region was ceded to Czechoslovakia according to the Treaty of Versailles, after the Nazi Germany conquest of Poland in late 1939, the Province of Silesia was extended when a part of Poland was merged into that province. In 1941, the Province was divided again, the German-speaking population left or was expelled following World War II, though a minority remains. A smaller western part of the former Silesia Province lies within modern German states of Saxony, coats of arms of Upper Silesian towns while part of the Province of Silesia Administrative subdivision and population breakdown of the Province of Silesia in 1900/1900
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Steel
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Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, primarily carbon, that is widely used in construction and other applications because of its high tensile strength and low cost. Steels base metal is iron, which is able to take on two forms, body centered cubic and face centered cubic, depending on its temperature. It is the interaction of those allotropes with the elements, primarily carbon. In the body-centred cubic arrangement, there is an atom in the centre of each cube. Carbon, other elements, and inclusions within iron act as hardening agents that prevent the movement of dislocations that otherwise occur in the lattices of iron atoms. The carbon in steel alloys may contribute up to 2. 1% of its weight. Steels strength compared to pure iron is possible at the expense of irons ductility. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century and this was followed by Siemens-Martin process and then Gilchrist-Thomas process that refined the quality of steel. With their introductions, mild steel replaced wrought iron, further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking, largely replaced earlier methods by further lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality of the product. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world and it is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations, the noun steel originates from the Proto-Germanic adjective stakhlijan, which is related to stakhla. The carbon content of steel is between 0. 002% and 2. 1% by weight for plain iron–carbon alloys and these values vary depending on alloying elements such as manganese, chromium, nickel, iron, tungsten, carbon and so on. Basically, steel is an alloy that does not undergo eutectic reaction. In contrast, cast iron does undergo eutectic reaction, too little carbon content leaves iron quite soft, ductile, and weak. Carbon contents higher than those of steel make an alloy, commonly called pig iron, while iron alloyed with carbon is called carbon steel, alloy steel is steel to which other alloying elements have been intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel. Common alloying elements include, manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, and niobium. Additional elements are important in steel, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen, and copper. Alloys with a higher than 2. 1% carbon content, depending on other element content, cast iron is not malleable even when hot, but it can be formed by casting as it has a lower melting point than steel and good castability properties
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Sulfuric acid
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Sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive strong mineral acid with the molecular formula H2SO4 and molecular weight 98.079 g/mol. It is a pungent-ethereal, colorless to slightly yellow liquid that is soluble in water at all concentrations. Sometimes, it is dyed dark brown during production to alert people to its hazards, the historical name of this acid is oil of vitriol. Sulfuric acid is an acid and shows different properties depending upon its concentration. Its corrosiveness on other materials, like metals, living tissues or even stones, can be ascribed to its strong acidic nature and, if concentrated. It is also hygroscopic, readily absorbing water vapour from the air, Sulfuric acid at a high concentration can cause very serious damage upon contact, since not only does it cause chemical burns via hydrolysis, but also secondary thermal burns through dehydration. It can lead to permanent blindness if splashed onto eyes and irreversible damage if swallowed, Sulfuric acid has a wide range of applications including in domestic acidic drain cleaners, as an electrolyte in lead-acid batteries and in various cleaning agents. It is also a central substance in the chemical industry, principal uses include mineral processing, fertilizer manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing, and chemical synthesis. It is widely produced with different methods, such as process, wet sulfuric acid process, lead chamber process. The study of vitriol, a category of glassy minerals from which the acid can be derived, sumerians had a list of types of vitriol that they classified according to the substances color. Some of the earliest discussions on the origin and properties of vitriol is in the works of the Greek physician Dioscorides, galen also discussed its medical use. Ibn Sina focused on its uses and different varieties of vitriol. Sulfuric acid was called oil of vitriol by medieval European alchemists because it was prepared by roasting green vitriol in an iron retort, there are references to it in the works of Vincent of Beauvais and in the Compositum de Compositis ascribed to Saint Albertus Magnus. A passage from Pseudo-Geber´s Summa Perfectionis was long considered to be the first recipe for sulfuric acid, in the seventeenth century, the German-Dutch chemist Johann Glauber prepared sulfuric acid by burning sulfur together with saltpeter, in the presence of steam. As saltpeter decomposes, it oxidizes the sulfur to SO3, in 1736, Joshua Ward, a London pharmacist, used this method to begin the first large-scale production of sulfuric acid. This process allowed the effective industrialization of sulfuric acid production, after several refinements, this method, called the lead chamber process or chamber process, remained the standard for sulfuric acid production for almost two centuries. Sulfuric acid created by John Roebucks process approached a 65% concentration, later refinements to the lead chamber process by French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and British chemist John Glover improved concentration to 78%. However, the manufacture of dyes and other chemical processes require a more concentrated product
25.
Fritz Haber
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This invention is of importance for the large-scale synthesis of fertilizers and explosives. The food production for half the current population depends on this method for producing nitrogen fertilizers. Haber, along with Max Born, proposed the Born–Haber cycle as a method for evaluating the energy of an ionic solid. Fritz Haber was born in Breslau, in Prussian Silesia, into a well-off Jewish family, the family name Haber was a common one in the area, but Fritz Habers family has been traced back to a great-grandfather, Pinkus Selig Haber, a wool dealer from Kempen. An important Prussian edict of 13 March 1812 determined that Jews and their families, under such regulations, members of the Haber family were able to establish themselves in respected positions in business, politics, and law. Fritz Haber was the son of Siegfried and Paula Haber, first cousins who married in spite of opposition from their families. Fritzs father Siegfried was a merchant in the town, who had founded his own business in dye pigments, paints. Paula experienced a difficult pregnancy and died three weeks after Fritzs birth, leaving Siegfried devastated and Fritz in the care of various aunts, when Fritz was about 6 years old, Siegfried remarried, to Hedwig Hamburger. Siegfried and his wife had three daughters, Else, Helene and Frieda. Although his relationship with his father was distant and often difficult, Fritz developed close relationships with his step-mother, by the time Fritz was born, the Habers had to some extent assimilated into German society. Fritz attended primary school at the Johanneum School, a school open equally to Catholic, Protestant. At age 11, he went to school at the St. Elizabeth classical school and his family supported the Jewish community and continued to observe many Jewish traditions, but were not strongly associated with the synagogue. Fritz Haber identified strongly as German, less so as Jewish, Fritz Haber successfully passed his examinations at the St. Elizabeth High School in Breslau in September 1886. Haber was disappointed by his initial winter semester in Berlin, and arranged to attend the University of Heidelberg for the semester of 1887. He then returned to Berlin, to the Technical College of Charlottenburg, in the summer of 1889 he left university to perform a legally required year of voluntary service in the Sixth Field Artillery Regiment. Upon its completion, he returned to Charlottenburg where he became a student of Carl Liebermann, in addition to Liebermanns lectures on organic chemistry, Haber also attended lectures by Otto Witt on the chemical technology of dyes. Liebermann assigned Haber to work on reactions with piperonal for his thesis topic, with his degree, Fritz returned to Breslau to work at his fathers chemical business. They did not get along well, through Siegfrieds connections, Fritz was assigned a series of practical apprenticeships in different chemical companies, to gain experience
26.
University of Karlsruhe
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The University of Karlsruhe, also known as Fridericiana, was founded in 1825. It recently merged with Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe to form the new institution and it is located in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany, and is one of the most prestigious technical universities in Germany - it is recognized as one of the leading research universities. The University of Karlsruhe was founded as Polytechnische Schule, a polytechnical school and it was modeled upon the École polytechnique in Paris. In 1865, Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden raised the school to the status of a Hochschule, since 1902 the university also has been known as the Fridericiana in his honour. In 1885 the institution was renamed a Technische Hochschule, Institute of Technology, and in 1967 it became a Universität, in 1899 all technical universities, including the University of Karlsruhe, were granted the right to award doctorate degrees for engineering identified as Dr. Ing. The University of Karlsruhe has been one of the leading German institutions in computer science, the department of informatics was established three years later along with the study of informatics in a regular course. On 2 August 1984 the university received the first email in Germany, the name was selected to emulate the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the leading technical university in the United States. In 2008 Hans-Werner Hector, SAP co-founder, raised a 200 million euro fund to support excellent researchers within the university, in the winter semester of 2008/2009 the University of Karlsruhe completed the transition from the Diplom system to a bachelor and master based system. Students working towards a degree were allowed to finish their studies while new students could apply for a bachelors or masters degree. Admission policies vary in different departments, all departments require students to pass a minimum number of exams, called Orientierungsprüfung, in the first three semesters to continue their studies. In the first semesters of a course tend to be theoretically-oriented at the university, requiring a high concentration of mathematical classes for engineering. It is possible to specialize in more practical or theoretical topics in later semesters, the university allows a broad band of education with the possibility of cross studies and work. The studium generale was established in 1949 allowing students to attend lectures not directly pertaining to their field, the Zentrum für Angewandte Kulturwissenschaft und Studium Generale was founded in 1989 to support students as a central institution for their interdisciplinary studies. A chance for a concomitant study in applied science is given as well. In 1979 the Interfakultatives Institut für Anwendungen der Informatik was founded and it brings together research in the fields of physics, mathematics and engineering which are based on computer science. Its mathematical branch is the Institut für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen und Mathem and its aim is to enhance the exchange between mathematics and engineering in the fields of scientific calculations. The Interfakultatives Institut für Entrepreneurship, now known as the Institut für Entrepreneurship and its teaching professors are entrepreneurs on their own, such as Götz Werner, founder of dm-drogerie markt. In 2001 the Center for Functional Nanostructures was established and it merges the fields of material sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering and physics which are related to nanotechnology
27.
Haber process
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The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is an artificial nitrogen fixation process and is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia today. It is named after its inventors, the German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch, throughout the 19th century the demand for nitrates and ammonia for use as fertilizers and industrial feedstocks had been steadily increasing. The main source was mining niter deposits, at the beginning of the 20th century it was being predicted that these reserves could not satisfy future demand and research into new potential sources of ammonia became more important. The obvious source was atmospheric nitrogen, comprising nearly 80% of the air, however N2 is exceptionally stable, converting N2 into ammonia posed a chemical challenge for chemists globally. Haber, with his assistant Robert Le Rossignol, developed the high-pressure devices and they demonstrated their process in the summer of 1909 by producing ammonia from air, drop by drop, at the rate of about 125 ml per hour. The process was purchased by the German chemical company BASF, which assigned Carl Bosch the task of scaling up Habers tabletop machine to industrial-level production. Ammonia was first manufactured using the Haber process on a scale in 1913 in BASFs Oppau plant in Germany. During World War I, the production of munitions required large amounts of nitrate, the Allies had access to large sodium nitrate deposits in Chile controlled by British companies. Germany had no resources, so the Haber process proved essential to the German war effort. Synthetic ammonia from the Haber process was used for the production of nitric acid, on each pass only about 15% conversion occurs, but any unreacted gases are recycled, and eventually an overall conversion of 97% is achieved. The major source of hydrogen is methane from natural gas, nitrogen is very unreactive because the molecules are held together by strong triple bonds. The Haber process relies on catalysts that accelerate the scission of this triple bond, two opposing considerations are relevant to this synthesis, the position of the equilibrium and the rate of reaction. At room temperature, the equilibrium is strongly in favor of ammonia, the obvious solution is to raise the temperature, but because the reaction is exothermic, the equilibrium constant becomes 1 around 150–200 °C. Above this temperature, the equilibrium quickly becomes quite unfavorable at atmospheric pressure, thus one might suppose that a low temperature is to be used and some other means to increase rate. However, the catalyst itself requires a temperature of at least 400 °C to be efficient, economically, pressure is an expensive commodity. Pipes and reaction vessels need to be strengthened, valves more rigorous, in addition, running pumps and compressors takes considerable energy. Thus the compromise used gives a single pass yield of around 15%, another way to increase the yield of the reaction would be to remove the product from the system. In practice, gaseous ammonia is not removed from the reactor itself, since the temperature is too high, the hot gases are cooled enough, whilst maintaining a high pressure, for the ammonia to condense and be removed as liquid
28.
Max Bodenstein
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Max Ernst August Bodenstein was a German physical chemist known for his work in chemical kinetics. He was first to postulate a chain reaction mechanism and that explosions are branched chain reactions, Max Bodenstein was born in Magdeburg on 15 July 1871 as the eldest son of Magdeburg merchant and brewer Franz Bodenstein and his first wife Elise Meissner. In 1888, Max Bodenstein enrolled at the University of Heidelberg at the age of 17 to study chemistry with Carl Fresenius. On 25 October 1893, he received his PhD thesis, Über die Zersetzung des Jodwasserstoffes in der Hitze, following graduation, Bodenstein received two years of additional training in Berlin-Charlottenburg and Göttingen. In 1896, Max Bodenstein returned to the University of Heidelberg, in 1899, he habilitated with the theme, Gasreaktionen in der chemischen Kinetik. In 1900, Max Bodenstein became Lecturer at the institute of Wilhelm Ostwald at University of Leipzig. In 1904, he was appointed as Titularprofessor at the same institute, in 1906, he became associate professor at the University of Berlin and department head at the physicochemical institute of Walther Nernst. In 1908, he decided to change to the University of Hannover where he was appointed professor in electrochemistry. He also became professor of chemistry in 1911. In 1923, he returned to Berlin where he accepted to be professor of physical chemistry. He kept these positions until he retired in 1936, Max Bodenstein was also member of the German Atomgewichtskommission and co-editor of the journal Physikalische Chemie. Max Bodenstein is considered to be one of the founders of chemical kinetics and he started by detailed experimental work on the formation of hydrogen iodide. His technique was to mix hydrogen and iodine in a sealed tube, the reaction eventually reached an equilibrium, at which the rate of formation of hydrogen iodide was equal to the rate of decomposition to the original reaction. The equilibrium mixture of hydrogen, iodine, and hydrogen iodide was frozen by cooling. His work, published in 1899, was one of the first equilibrium investigations over a temperature range. Bodenstein also investigated in photochemistry, being first to demonstrate that, in the reaction of hydrogen with chlorine and he explored in great detail the reaction mechanism of reaction between hydrogen and chlorine. With this research, he contributed to the understanding in light-induced chemical chain reactions, in his kinetic studies, he used the quasi-steady state approximation to derive the rate equation of the reaction. These reactive intermediates can be radicals, carbenium ions, molecules in the excited state, Victor Henri wrote in 1902, M. Bodenstein to whom I owe much valuable advice, in particular on the kinetic description of the invertase enzyme
29.
Chemical kinetics
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Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the study of rates of chemical processes. Van t Hoff studied chemical dynamics and published in 1884 his famous Etudes de dynamique chimique, after van t Hoff, chemical kinetics deals with the experimental determination of reaction rates from which rate laws and rate constants are derived. Relatively simple rate laws exist for zero order reactions, first order reactions, and second order reactions, and can be derived for others. Elementary reactions follow the law of action, but the rate law of stepwise reactions has to be derived by combining the rate laws of the various elementary steps. In consecutive reactions, the rate-determining step often determines the kinetics, in consecutive first order reactions, a steady state approximation can simplify the rate law. The activation energy for a reaction is determined through the Arrhenius equation. Gorban and Yablonsky have suggested that the history of chemical dynamics can be divided into three eras, the first is the van t Hoff wave searching for the general laws of chemical reactions and relating kinetics to thermodynamics. The second may be called the Semenov--Hinshelwood wave with emphasis on reaction mechanisms, the third is associated with Aris and the detailed mathematical description of chemical reaction networks. Depending upon what substances are reacting, the rate varies. Acid/base reactions, the formation of salts, and ion exchange are fast reactions, when covalent bond formation takes place between the molecules and when large molecules are formed, the reactions tend to be very slow. Nature and strength of bonds in reactant molecules greatly influence the rate of its transformation into products, the physical state of a reactant is also an important factor of the rate of change. When reactants are in the phase, as in aqueous solution. However, when they are in different phases, the reaction is limited to the interface between the reactants, reaction can occur only at their area of contact, in the case of a liquid and a gas, at the surface of the liquid. Vigorous shaking and stirring may be needed to bring the reaction to completion and this means that the more finely divided a solid or liquid reactant the greater its surface area per unit volume and the more contact it with the other reactant, thus the faster the reaction. To make an analogy, for example, when one starts a fire, one uses wood chips, in organic chemistry, on water reactions are the exception to the rule that homogeneous reactions take place faster than heterogeneous reactions. In a solid, only those particles that are at the surface can be involved in a reaction, for example, Sherbet is a mixture of very fine powder of malic acid and sodium hydrogen carbonate. On contact with the saliva in the mouth, these chemicals quickly dissolve and react, releasing carbon dioxide, also, fireworks manufacturers modify the surface area of solid reactants to control the rate at which the fuels in fireworks are oxidised, using this to create different effects. For example, finely divided aluminium confined in a shell explodes violently, if larger pieces of aluminium are used, the reaction is slower and sparks are seen as pieces of burning metal are ejected
30.
Hydrocarbon
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In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon, and thus are group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons from which one atom has been removed are functional groups. Aromatic hydrocarbons, alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes and alkyne-based compounds are different types of hydrocarbons, the classifications for hydrocarbons, defined by IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry are as follows, Saturated hydrocarbons are the simplest of the hydrocarbon species. They are composed entirely of single bonds and are saturated with hydrogen, the formula for acyclic saturated hydrocarbons is CnH2n+2. The most general form of saturated hydrocarbons is CnH2n+2, where r is the number of rings and those with exactly one ring are the cycloalkanes. Saturated hydrocarbons are the basis of petroleum fuels and are found as linear or branched species. Substitution reaction is their characteristics property, hydrocarbons with the same molecular formula but different structural formulae are called structural isomers. As given in the example of 3-methylhexane and its higher homologues, chiral saturated hydrocarbons constitute the side chains of biomolecules such as chlorophyll and tocopherol. Unsaturated hydrocarbons have one or more double or triple bonds between carbon atoms and those with double bond are called alkenes. Those with one double bond have the formula CnH2n and those containing triple bonds are called alkyne. Those with one triple bond have the formula CnH2n−2, aromatic hydrocarbons, also known as arenes, are hydrocarbons that have at least one aromatic ring. Hydrocarbons can be gases, liquids, waxes or low melting solids or polymers, in terms of shells, carbon consists of an incomplete outer shell, which comprises 4 electrons, and thus has 4 electrons available for covalent or dative bonding. Some hydrocarbons also are abundant in the solar system, lakes of liquid methane and ethane have been found on Titan, Saturns largest moon, confirmed by the Cassini-Huygens Mission. Hydrocarbons are also abundant in nebulae forming polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, hydrocarbons are a primary energy source for current civilizations. The predominant use of hydrocarbons is as a fuel source. In their solid form, hydrocarbons take the form of asphalt, mixtures of volatile hydrocarbons are now used in preference to the chlorofluorocarbons as a propellant for aerosol sprays, due to chlorofluorocarbons impact on the ozone layer. Methane and ethane are gaseous at ambient temperatures and cannot be liquefied by pressure alone. Propane is however easily liquefied, and exists in propane bottles mostly as a liquid, butane is so easily liquefied that it provides a safe, volatile fuel for small pocket lighters
31.
Hydrogenation
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Hydrogenation – to treat with hydrogen – is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is employed to reduce or saturate organic compounds. Hydrogenation typically constitutes the addition of pairs of atoms to a molecule. Catalysts are required for the reaction to be usable, non-catalytic hydrogenation takes place only at high temperatures. Hydrogenation reduces double and triple bonds in hydrocarbons and it has three components, the unsaturated substrate, the hydrogen and, invariably, a catalyst. The reduction reaction is carried out at different temperatures and pressures depending upon the substrate, the same catalysts and conditions that are used for hydrogenation reactions can also lead to isomerization of the alkenes from cis to trans. This process is of great interest because hydrogenation technology generates most of the fat in foods. A reaction where bonds are broken while hydrogen is added is called hydrogenolysis, some hydrogenations of polar bonds are accompanied by hydrogenolysis. For hydrogenation, the source of hydrogen is H2 gas itself. The hydrogenation process often uses greater than 1 atmosphere of H2, usually conveyed from the cylinders, gaseous hydrogen is produced industrially from hydrocarbons by the process known as steam reforming. For many applications, hydrogen is transferred from donor molecules such as acid, isopropanol. These hydrogen donors undergo dehydrogenation to, respectively, carbon dioxide, acetone and these processes are called transfer hydrogenations. Typical substrates are listed in the table With rare exceptions, H2 is unreactive toward organic compounds in the absence of metal catalysts, the unsaturated substrate is chemisorbed onto the catalyst, with most sites covered by the substrate. In heterogeneous catalysts, hydrogen forms surface hydrides from which hydrogens can be transferred to the chemisorbed substrate, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium form highly active catalysts, which operate at lower temperatures and lower pressures of H2. Non-precious metal catalysts, especially based on nickel have also been developed as economical alternatives. The trade-off is activity vs. cost of the catalyst and cost of the apparatus required for use of high pressures, notice that the Raney-nickel catalysed hydrogenations require high pressures, Catalysts are usually classified into two broad classes, homogeneous catalysts and heterogeneous catalysts. Homogeneous catalysts dissolve in the solvent that contains the unsaturated substrate, heterogeneous catalysts are solids that are suspended in the same solvent with the substrate or are treated with gaseous substrate. Some well known homogeneous catalysts are indicated below and these are coordination complexes that activate both the unsaturated substrate and the H2
32.
Lignite
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Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its low heat content. It has a carbon content around 60–70 percent and it is mined all around the world and is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation, but is also mined for its germanium content in China. The energy content of lignite ranges from 10 to 20 MJ/kg on a moist, the energy content of lignite consumed in the United States averages 15 MJ/kg, on the as-received basis. The energy content of lignite consumed in Victoria, Australia, averages 8.4 MJ/kg, lignite has a high content of volatile matter which makes it easier to convert into gas and liquid petroleum products than higher-ranking coals. Unfortunately, its moisture content and susceptibility to spontaneous combustion can cause problems in transportation. However, removing the moisture increases the cost of the final lignite fuel, because of its low energy density and typically high moisture content, brown coal is inefficient to transport and is not traded extensively on the world market compared with higher coal grades. It is often burned in power stations near the mines, such as in Australias Latrobe Valley, the operation of traditional brown-coal plants, particularly in combination with strip mining, can be politically contentious due to environmental concerns. An environmentally beneficial use of lignite can be found in its use in cultivation and distribution of biological control microbes that suppress plant disease causing microbes, lignite begins as an accumulation of partially decayed plant material, or peat. Burial by other sediments results in increasing temperature, depending on the geothermal gradient and tectonic setting. This causes compaction of the material and loss of some of the water and this process, called coalification, concentrates the carbon content, and thus the heat content, of the material. Deeper burial and the passage of time result in expulsion of moisture and volatile matter, eventually transforming the material into higher rank coals such as bituminous. Lignite deposits are younger than higher-ranked coals, with the majority of them having formed during the Tertiary period. The Latrobe Valley in the state of Victoria, Australia, contains estimated reserves of some 65 billion tonnes of brown coal, the deposit is equivalent to 25 percent of known world reserves. The coal seams are up to 100 metres thick, with coal seams often giving virtually continuous brown coal thickness of up to 230 metres. Seams are covered by little overburden. Lignite can be separated into two types, the first is xyloid lignite or fossil wood and the second form is the compact lignite or perfect lignite. Although xyloid lignite may sometimes have the tenacity and the appearance of ordinary wood and it is reducible to a fine powder by trituration, and if submitted to the action of a weak solution of potash, it yields a considerable quantity of humic acid
33.
Theodor Goldschmidt
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Carl Theodor Wilhelm Goldschmidt was a German-Jewish entrepreneur and chemist. Goldschmidt studied chemistry at the University of Berlin, and then trained as a colorist, in 1834, he converted to Protestant Christianity. On 8 December 1847, he founded a factory in Berlin. Goldschmidt was a city councilor in Berlin, was interested in philosophy, karl Goldschmidt and Hans Goldschmidt were his sons
34.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
35.
Inflation
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In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time resulting in a loss of value of currency. When the price rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange. A chief measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index, usually the consumer price index. The opposite of inflation is deflation, Inflation affects economies in various positive and negative ways. Economists generally believe that high rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by a growth of the money supply. However, money supply growth does not necessarily cause inflation, some economists maintain that under the conditions of a liquidity trap, large monetary injections are like pushing on a string. Views on which factors determine low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied, low or moderate inflation may be attributed to fluctuations in real demand for goods and services, or changes in available supplies such as during scarcities. However, the view is that a long sustained period of inflation is caused by money supply growing faster than the rate of economic growth. Today, most economists favor a low and steady rate of inflation, the task of keeping the rate of inflation low and stable is usually given to monetary authorities. Rapid increases in quantity of the money or in the money supply have occurred in many different societies throughout history. By diluting the gold with other metals, the government could issue more coins without also needing to increase the amount of used to make them. When the cost of each coin is lowered in this way and this practice would increase the money supply but at the same time the relative value of each coin would be lowered. As the relative value of the coins becomes lower, consumers would need to give more coins in exchange for the same goods and these goods and services would experience a price increase as the value of each coin is reduced. Song Dynasty China introduced the practice of printing paper money in order to create fiat currency, during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the government spent a great deal of money fighting costly wars, and reacted by printing more money, leading to inflation. Fearing the inflation that plagued the Yuan dynasty, the Ming Dynasty initially rejected the use of paper money, historically, large infusions of gold or silver into an economy also led to inflation. This was largely caused by the influx of gold and silver from the New World into Habsburg Spain. The silver spread throughout a previously cash-starved Europe and caused widespread inflation, demographic factors also contributed to upward pressure on prices, with European population growth after depopulation caused by the Black Death pandemic
36.
Franz Joseph Emil Fischer
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Franz Joseph Emil Fischer was a German chemist. He and Hans Tropsch discovered the Fischer-Tropsch process, with Hans Schrader he developed the Fischer Assay, a standardized laboratory test for determining the oil yield from oil shale to be expected from a conventional shale oil extraction. He also worked with Wilhelm Ostwald and Hermann Emil Fischer, in 1913 he became Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim
37.
BASF
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BASF SE is a German chemical company and the largest producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany, BASF has customers in over 200 countries and supplies products to a wide variety of industries. Despite its size and global presence, BASF has received little public attention since abandoning its consumer product lines in the 1990s. At the end of 2015, the company employed more than 122,000 people, in 2015, BASF posted sales of €70.4 billion and income from operations before special items of about €6.7 billion. The company is expanding its international activities with a particular focus on Asia. Between 1990 and 2005, the company invested €5.6 billion in Asia, for example in sites near Nanjing and Shanghai, China, BASF is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock Exchange. The company delisted its ADR from the New York Stock Exchange in September 2007, the company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. BASF was founded on 6 April 1865 in Mannheim, in the German-speaking country of Baden by Friedrich Engelhorn and it had been responsible for setting up a gasworks and street lighting for the town council in 1861. The gasworks produced tar as a byproduct, and Engelhorn used this for the production of dyes, BASF was set up in 1865 to produce other chemicals necessary for dye production, notably soda and acids. In 1866 the dye production processes were also moved to the BASF site, BASF recruited Heinrich Caro, a German chemist with experience of the dyestuffs industry in England, to be the first head of research. Caro developed a synthesis for alizarin, and applied for a British patent on 25 June 1869, coincidentally Perkin applied for a virtually identical patent on 26 June 1869, and the two companies came to a mutual commercial agreement about the process. In 1901, some 80% of the BASF production was dyestuffs, sodium carbonate was produced by the Leblanc process until 1880, when the much cheaper Solvay process became available. BASF ceased to make its own and bought it from the Solvay company thereafter, sulfuric acid was initially produced by the lead chamber process, but in 1890 a unit using the contact process was brought on stream, producing the acid at higher concentration and at lower cost. This followed extensive research and development by Rudolf Knietsch, for which he received the Liebig Medal in 1904, BASF also acquired and began mining anhydrite for gypsum at the Kohnstein in 1917. In 1925, BASF merged with Bayer, Hoechst and three companies to form I. G. Farben played a role in the Nazi economy. During World War II, the company manufactured poison gas, Zyklon B, used at camps and employed forced. Several company directors and senior managers were tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as a result of this monopoly, BASF was able to start operations at a new site in Leuna in 1916, where explosives were produced during the First World War
38.
Wood
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Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees, and other woody plants. It is a material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers which are strong in tension embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, in a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots, Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber. In 2005, the stock of forests worldwide was about 434 billion cubic meters. As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of intense interest as a source of renewable energy, in 1991 approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters of wood were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction, a 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick discovered the earliest known plants to have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago. Wood can be dated by carbon dating and in species by dendrochronology to make inferences about when a wooden object was created. People have used wood for millennia for many purposes, primarily as a fuel or as a material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks. Constructions using wood date back ten thousand years, buildings like the European Neolithic long house were made primarily of wood. Recent use of wood has changed by the addition of steel. The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the climate at that time. This process is known as growth, it is the result of cell division in the vascular cambium, a lateral meristem. These cells then go on to form thickened secondary cell walls, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, if the distinctiveness between seasons is annual, these growth rings are referred to as annual rings. Where there is little seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be indistinct or absent, if the bark of the tree has been removed in a particular area, the rings will likely be deformed as the plant overgrows the scar. It is usually lighter in color than that near the portion of the ring. The outer portion formed later in the season is known as the latewood or summerwood. However, there are differences, depending on the kind of wood
39.
Sugar
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Sugar is the generic name for sweet, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. There are various types of derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose, fructose, the table sugar or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. Sugar is used in prepared foods and it is added to some foods, in the body, sucrose is hydrolysed into the simple sugars fructose and glucose. Other disaccharides include maltose from malted grain, and lactose from milk, longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol may also have a sweet taste, low-calorie food substitutes for sugar, described as artificial sweeteners, include aspartame and sucralose, a chlorinated derivative of sucrose. Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants and are present in sufficient concentrations for efficient commercial extraction in sugarcane, the world production of sugar in 2011 was about 168 million tonnes. The average person consumes about 24 kilograms of sugar each year, equivalent to over 260 food calories per person, since the latter part of the twentieth century, it has been questioned whether a diet high in sugars, especially refined sugars, is good for human health. Sugar has been linked to obesity, and suspected of, or fully implicated as a cause in the occurrence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, macular degeneration, the etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word sugar ultimately originates from the Sanskrit शर्करा, via Arabic سكر as granular or candied sugar, the contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar, respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre and the contemporary French, sucre, the earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρις. The English word jaggery, a brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin – Portuguese jagara from the Sanskrit शर्करा. Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times and it was not plentiful or cheap in early times and honey was more often used for sweetening in most parts of the world. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness, sugarcane was a native of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. Different species seem to have originated from different locations with Saccharum barberi originating in India and S. edule, one of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating back to 8th century BC that state that the use of sugarcane originated in India. Sugar was found in Europe by the 1st century AD, but only as an imported medicine and it is a kind of honey found in cane, white as gum, and it crunches between the teeth. It comes in lumps the size of a hazelnut, sugar is used only for medical purposes. Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store, crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas, around the 5th century AD
40.
Bailiff
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A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian, a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offices and duties vary greatly, another official sometimes referred to as a bailiff was the vogt, see Vogt and Vogt. In the Holy Roman Empire a similar function was performed by the Amtmann, Bailiff was the term used by the Normans for what the Saxons had called a reeve, the officer responsible for executing the decisions of a court. The duty of the bailiff would thus include serving summonses and orders, the district within which the bailiff operated was called his bailiwick, even to the present day. Bailiffs were outsiders and free men, that is, they were not usually from the bailiwick they were responsible for. Throughout Norman England, the Saxon and Norman populations gradually mixed, primarily then, bailiff referred to the officer executing the decisions of manorial courts, and the hundred courts. Likewise, in Scotland a bailie was the officer of a barony. With the introduction of Justices of the Peace, magistrates courts acquired their own bailiffs, historically, courts were not always concerned with legal matters, and often decided administrative matters for the area within their jurisdiction. A bailiff of a manor, therefore, would oversee the manors lands and buildings, collect its rents, manage its accounts. In the 19th century, the functions of courts were mostly replaced by the creation of elected local authorities. Nevertheless, the bailiff is retained as a title by the chief officers of various towns and the keepers of royal castles, such as the High Bailiff of Westminster. In Scotland, bailie now refers to an officer corresponding to an English alderman. The high court acquired the sheriffs, the county court the bailiffs, to avoid confusion with their underlings, the County Courts Act 1888 renamed bailifs as High Bailiffs. This act also formally acknowledged the High Bailiffs right to appoint under-bailiffs as he wished, the High Bailiff gradually became a purely ceremonial role, the courts clerk liaising with under-bailiffs directly. The Law of Distress Amendment Act 1888 enacts that no person may act as an under-bailiff to levy any distress for rent, unless he is authorized by a county court judge to act as an under-bailiff. The County Courts Act 1888 restricted the hours an under-bailiff could execute a possession warrant and it also limited the ability to bring a legal complaint against a bailiff, six days notice now had to be given. In the Channel Islands the bailiff is the first civil officer in each of the two bailiwicks and he is appointed by the Crown, and holds office until retirement. He presides as a judge in the court, and takes the opinions of the jurats, he also presides over the states
41.
Stockholm
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The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
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Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
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Bad Gastein
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Bad Gastein is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it is known for the Gastein Waterfall. Bad Gastein is located in the historic Pongau region, the area of about 171 square kilometres is the largest in St. Johann im Pongau District. It stretches along the upper Gastein Valley following the course of the Gastein Ache creek, the valley separates the Hohe Tauern Ankogel Group in the east from the Goldberg Group in the west. The town centre is located at the Gastein Falls, about 1,000 metres above sea level and it is characterised by numerous historic multi-story hotel buildings erected on the steep slopes. The Gastein municipality comprises the communities of Badgastein, Böckstein. Its southern parts belong to the Hohe Tauern national park, frequent EuroCity and InterCity trains going along this route connect Bad Gastein with many Austrian cities like Vienna, Linz, Salzburg and Graz along a single circuit. The B167 Gasteiner Straße highway also passes right through the Gastein valley, through traffic from the northern branch-off at Lend in the Salzach valley passes the lower municipalities of Dorfgastein and Bad Hofgastein before reaching the Bad Gastein centre. However, in Böckstein at the head of the valley, the continuation southwards to Mallnitz in Carinthia requires cars to roll onto a train for a short trip through the Tauern Tunnel. The name Bad means spa, reflecting the history as a health resort. The local Heilstollen thermal spring water earned the town its early fame, theophrastus Parcelsus had studied the spring water to discover its secrets. Marie Curie and Heinrich Mache helped to discover that it contained radon, ankylosing spondylitis, in particular, has seen positive results from treatment at the Heilstollen. However, there is little empirical evidence of any benefit to inhaling radon. The remote valley was settled by Bavarian peasants in the 9th century, Gastein is first mentioned as Gastuna in a 963 deed, when the area belonged to the German stem duchy of Bavaria. It was originally a farming and gold mining area and the site of an ancient trade route crossing the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps. In 1297 Duke Otto III and his brother Stephen I, both highly indebted, sold it to the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, in the 19th century the waters of Bad Gastein became a fashionable resort, visited by European monarchs as well as the rich and famous. On 14 August 1865 Bismarck had signed the Gastein Convention with Austria concerning the joint administration of the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein after the Second Schleswig War. The composer Franz Schubert composed his Piano Sonata in D Major in Bad Gastein, though no score appears to have survived for the latter, it is often identified with the Symphony No.9 in C major
Media related to Friedrich Bergius at Wikimedia Commons
