Karl Friedrich Plattner
Encyclopedia
Karl Friedrich Plattner was a German
metallurgical
chemist
.
He was born at Kleinwaltersdorf
, near Freiberg
in the Electorate of Saxony
, on 2 January 1800. His father, though only a poor working miner, found the means to have him educated first at the Bergschule (mining school) and then at the Bergakademie
of Freiberg. After he had completed his courses there in 1820 he obtained employment, chiefly as an assayer
, in connexion with the royal mines and metal works. Having taken up the idea of quantitative mouth blowpipe
assaying, which was then almost unknown, he succeeded in devising dependable methods for all the ordinary useful metals. In particular his modes of assaying for nickel
and cobalt
quickly found favour with metallurgists. He also devoted himself to the improvement of qualitative blowpipe analysis, and summed up his experience in a treatise Die Probierkunst mit dem Löthrohr (1835), which became a standard authority.
In 1840 he was made chief of the royal department of assaying. Two years later he was deputed to complete a course of lectures on metallurgy at the Bergakademie in place of W. A. Lampadius (1772–1842), whom he subsequently succeeded as professor. He died at Freiberg on 22 January 1858.
In addition to many memoirs on metallurgical subjects he also published Die metallurgischen Rostprocesse theoretisch betrachtet, and posthumously Vorlesungen über allgemeine Hüttenkunde.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
metallurgical
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
.
He was born at Kleinwaltersdorf
Barzyna, Opole Voivodeship
Barzyna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Namysłów, within Namysłów County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland....
, near Freiberg
Freiberg, Saxony
Freiberg is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, administrative center of the Mittelsachsen district.-History:The city was founded in 1186, and has been a center of the mining industry in the Ore Mountains for centuries...
in the Electorate of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
, on 2 January 1800. His father, though only a poor working miner, found the means to have him educated first at the Bergschule (mining school) and then at the Bergakademie
Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg is a small German University of Technology with about 5000 students in the city of Freiberg, Saxony...
of Freiberg. After he had completed his courses there in 1820 he obtained employment, chiefly as an assayer
Assayer
An assayer is a person who tests ores and minerals and analyzes them to determine their composition and value. They may use spectrographic analysis, chemical solutions, and chemical or laboratory equipment, such as furnaces, beakers, graduates, pipettes, and crucibles.An assayer separates metals...
, in connexion with the royal mines and metal works. Having taken up the idea of quantitative mouth blowpipe
Blowpipe (tool)
The term blowpipe refers to one of several tools used to direct streams of gases into any of several working media.- Blowpipes for torches :...
assaying, which was then almost unknown, he succeeded in devising dependable methods for all the ordinary useful metals. In particular his modes of assaying for nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
and cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....
quickly found favour with metallurgists. He also devoted himself to the improvement of qualitative blowpipe analysis, and summed up his experience in a treatise Die Probierkunst mit dem Löthrohr (1835), which became a standard authority.
In 1840 he was made chief of the royal department of assaying. Two years later he was deputed to complete a course of lectures on metallurgy at the Bergakademie in place of W. A. Lampadius (1772–1842), whom he subsequently succeeded as professor. He died at Freiberg on 22 January 1858.
In addition to many memoirs on metallurgical subjects he also published Die metallurgischen Rostprocesse theoretisch betrachtet, and posthumously Vorlesungen über allgemeine Hüttenkunde.