Herman ivanovich gess. Hess Hermann is a chemist. Hess Herman Ivanovich

Hess German Ivanovich - Russian chemist. Was born in the city of Geneva in 1802. He came to Russia with his parents in 1805, and at the age of 15 he left for Tartu with his parents. There he studied first in a private school, then in a gymnasium, which he graduated in 1822. After grammar school, he entered the University of Dorpat at the Faculty of Medicine, where he studied chemistry with Professor Gottfried Ozann, who was a specialist in inorganic and analytical chemistry. In 1825, Hess defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine: "Study of the chemical composition and healing effect of mineral waters in Russia."

After graduation, Hermann Hess, with the help of Gottfried Ozann, was given a six-month business trip to the laboratory of Jones Berzelius in Stockholm. There Hermann Hess completed the analysis of the chemical composition of obsidian, a mineral of volcanic origin, which he had begun at the university laboratory.

On his return to Dorpat, Hess was assigned to Irkutsk, where he was to practice medicine. In Irkutsk, he also studied the chemical composition and therapeutic effect of mineral waters, investigated the properties of rock salt in the deposits of the Irkutsk province. In 1828 Hess was awarded the title of adjunct, and in 1830 - extraordinary academician of the Academy of Sciences. In the same year he received the Department of Chemistry at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, where he developed a curriculum for practical and theoretical chemistry. In 1832-1849. was a professor at the Mining Institute, taught at the Artillery School. In the late 1820s - early 1830s, Hermann Hess taught the basics of chemistry to the future Emperor Alexander II.

Hess is one of the founders of thermochemistry. In 1840 he discovered the basic law of thermochemistry - the law of constancy of the amount of heat, according to which the thermal effect of a reaction depends only on the initial and final states of the reacting substances, and not on the number of stages of the process (the so-called Hess's law). In 1842, he established the rule of thermoneutrality, according to which, when mixing saline solutions, no heat is released. Hess was the first to suggest the possibility of measuring the chemical affinity based on the heat effect of the reaction. He discovered and determined (1830-1834) the composition of four new minerals - vertite, uvarovite, hydroboracite and folbortite. In 1833, he proposed a method for producing tellurium from silver telluride, a mineral that was first studied by him. Studied (1832) cobalt oxides. He established the catalyzing and adsorption properties of finely crushed platinum. He was one of the first to study the composition of Caucasian oils. Opened up sugar acid.

Hess also dealt with the methods of teaching chemistry. He wrote the textbook "Foundations of Pure Chemistry" (1831), which went through seven editions. In his textbook, Hess used the Russian chemical nomenclature developed by him.

The scientist, after whose name the basic law of thermochemistry is named, worked as a doctor in Irkutsk for several years; Dmitry Mendeleev studied according to the textbook written by him

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The great chemist of Swiss origin, who lived all his life in Russia, Hermann Hess made his way into world science, including through the research he conducted in Siberia. For several years, the best graduate of the medical faculty of the University of Derpt worked in Irkutsk, saved Irkutsk districts from a rare eye epidemic, found out the reason for the spoilage of salt mined in the province, described the Turkinsky hot mineral springs near Lake Baikal. In 1828, Hess was awarded the title of Adjunct of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences and he was able to return to the Northern capital, where he devoted himself entirely to chemistry.

Adjunct of the St. Petersburg Academy

As it was written in the academic charter of 1747, “every academician must have an adjunct with him, who has the position of an assistant to the academician, and, moreover, both an academician about an adjunct and an adjunct about himself should try to intercede with his academician, upon departure his place. "

Adjuncts had the right to participate in the meetings of the academy and to cast their votes. The adjunct who served six years "with excellent diligence" had the right to demand the transfer to the post of an extraordinary academician. Thus, an adjunct was roughly the same as a modern Corresponding Member.

Indeed, in August 1830, Hess was elected an academician - "extraordinary" (until 1912 it was an intermediate title between adjunct and full member). In this rank, Hess developed a course in practical and theoretical chemistry for the Institute of Technology, in which he took the chair of chemistry. He taught chemistry at the Main Pedagogical Institute, Mining Institute, and an artillery school. In May 1834, Hess was elected to the highest academic position - he became an ordinary academician. Until his death, the scientist did not leave Russia, except that once he traveled briefly across Europe. Chemistry remained his main passion and work of life.

Best textbook of decades

1831 was the year of birth of "Foundations of Pure Chemistry" by Hermann Hess. The book was named the most successful domestic chemistry textbook of its time. It was so remarkable that it went through seven editions, the last in 1849. In each edition the author made the necessary changes and additions. It was the work of Hess that served as the main textbook for all higher educational institutions in Russia for several decades, right up to the 60s of the 19th century. A whole generation of Russian chemists, including Dmitry Mendeleev and Alexander Butlerov, studied this textbook. Before Hess, they could not write a chemistry textbook that would explain the subject in an accessible form and highlight the latest achievements of science.

The scientist was clearly aware of the current state of affairs: “In Russia, more than ever, the need to study chemistry is felt, and it is necessary to pay attention to this all the more since there has not yet been a single even mediocre work in Russian devoted to the industry exact sciences ".

These are the words from Hess's memorandum at the conference of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences on October 7, 1831. The note was attached to a copy of The Foundations of Pure Chemistry, which had just been published.

So what helped Hess write a really popular textbook? “Let the devil write textbooks on chemistry, because everything changes in a short time,” said the largest European chemist Jens Jacob Berzelius, and he certainly knew what he was talking about. Hess, while still in Irkutsk, carefully studied Berzelius's multivolume chemistry textbook - a genuine encyclopedia of chemical knowledge of that time (this alone made him the most erudite chemist in Russia). Biographers of Hess have suggested that it was Berzelius's monograph that awakened his ambitious desire to take up his work.

By the way, in Hess we find a statement that should be kept in mind by current authors: “Who undertakes to write manuals on chemistry in our country? People who only read, but by no means engaged in experiments and research, people who would find it difficult to compose the shortest instrument. " In Foundations ... - a satisfied, respectable edition of more than 600 pages - there are very few chemical formulas. True, those that exist are very unusual for the modern reader. The book is written in a simple language, almost no different from the modern one, not overloaded with terms and understandable for a beginner. The undoubted merit of Hess is that in the textbook he used the Russian chemical nomenclature developed by him. It was supplemented by Dmitry Mendeleev and has largely survived to this day.

In 1834, Hess also published the first Russian school textbook of chemistry. The author has reduced its volume by almost two and a half times in comparison with the textbook for students. However, during the life of Hess, chemistry did not become a compulsory subject in gymnasiums.

Chemistry lessons

Herman Ivanovich was a teacher from God, contemporaries recalled. The professor was distinguished by his great ability to interest the listener in a clear and simple statement of thought, skillful conduct of lectures and practical exercises, they talked about him. At the pedagogical institute, he opened a laboratory, and in the mining institute, he made a whole revolution in teaching: he introduced a systematic clock in chemistry, which was almost ignored at the institute, and soon achieved that it was made one of the main disciplines in the schedule. And in the artillery school, using the reputation of the best and, moreover, a laboratory chemist, Hess took classes almost only practically, and already in 1839 he opened a new officer class for this purpose.

In addition to everything, he, already being an ordinary academician, inspected St. Petersburg private schools and boarding schools, taught chemistry to Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich. Hess was generally indefatigable: he took part in supplying the capital of the Neva with water using water pipes; in 1849 he traveled to the south of Russia to inspect the newly founded sugar factories, and all this time, being a member of many scientific societies, he did not stop working hard on unresolved problems of chemistry. He became known as one of the founders of thermochemistry and the author of the law that bears his name. At the same time, one newspaper publication will not be enough to remember what Hess did for science: for example, he described the composition of Baku oil.

Professor from the future

The Petersburg climate, to which Hess was never accustomed, ruined him in his prime - he died at the 49th year of life. Many heartfelt words were dedicated to his memory. The indispensable secretary of the Academy of Sciences P.N. Foos wrote in an obituary: “Hess had a direct and noble character, a soul open to the highest human inclinations ... Being too sensitive and quick in judgments, Hess easily indulged in everything that seemed to him kind and noble ... Hess had a naturally sharp mind and an inquisitive temperament ... "

He had a close-knit family: wife Jenny Ene and four daughters - Lunda, Anna, Adelaide and Emma. In a hospitable home, his select few friends gathered on Tuesday evenings to chat about various academic subjects.

But the years passed, the name of the scientist was shrouded in a veil of oblivion. There were no worthy adherents of thermochemistry among domestic chemists. In fact, Hess had no students. And where did they come from if Russian chemistry was just beginning to get on its feet. The European scientific community was also indifferent to the legacy of Hess. In the end, his laws were completely forgotten.

It was only in 1889 that Wilhelm Ostwald remembered Hesse. A man of exceptional breadth of interests, he paid a lot of attention to the history of science. Ostwald founded the serial publication of the Classics of the Exact Sciences. Three Russian scientists got access to the "Classics": MV Lomonosov, DI Mendeleev and GI Hess. The very inclusion of the name of Hess in this series speaks volumes.

In the issue of "Classics" (1890) dedicated to Hess, the text of "Thermochemical Research" was reproduced. Ostwald gave the following commentary to them: “In this work, marked by a genius, we see a general plan for the development of modern thermochemistry; subsequent research should implement the program outlined here. " However, having failed to find proper recognition in Russia, research in thermochemistry moved to France. The first thermochemical laboratory at Moscow State University was organized only in 1891.

In 1948, a two-volume edition "People of Russian Science" was published. But there was no German Ivanovich Hess among the chemists to whom the articles were devoted. It was only in the mid-1950s that his thermochemical works were translated into Russian and published in the academic series "Classics of Science". So the name of Herman Ivanovich Hess was nevertheless returned to the history of domestic and world chemistry.

Used articles: Hess Hermann Heinrich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary; I.A.Leenson. “What Petrushka Could Read in a Chemistry Textbook”, “To the 200th Anniversary of GI Hess. "The character is straight and noble ...".

Formerly Pasteur

From the textbook "Foundations of Pure Chemistry": "Many methods are used to preserve food, such as: drying, salting, pickling. They partly do not require explanation, partly they cannot yet be satisfactorily explained. I will report here only one method, which is less used than how much it deserves. If you boil milk, then pour it into a tin and seal it completely, so that air cannot penetrate into it, then through this milk will not be preserved from damage. But if a sealed tin can be immersed in boiling (as in the author - Ed.) Water and kept in boiling water for 20 minutes, then milk can remain in it indefinitely, 20 or more years, without being subjected to the slightest damage, if only outside air did not enter it. The reason for this phenomenon is not yet known, but the fact is beyond doubt ...

Like milk, you can preserve meat, vegetables and all not very sour foods that can be boiled; ready-made soups, sauces, etc. preserve to the full even the entire aroma of the roots put in them ... For better preservation, tin cans are painted on the outside with oil paint to protect them from rust. When they want to open a tin, so as not to spoil it, they circle the edges of the lid with a red-hot solder: the lid falls behind, and the tin can be used again as before ”. Note that Louis Pasteur published the main provisions of the theory of fermentation, in which he assigned the decisive role to living organisms, only in 1876, 26 years after the death of Hess.

Interesting

Along with chemical research, Hess was engaged in literary activities. In St. Petersburg, he became friends with Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky. Together they were published in the Sovremennik magazine. Hess tried to popularize chemistry as a science in Russia. In the fantastic story "4338" the scientist prophetically describes electricity, air transport, electromagnetic telegraph and atomic energy.

(1802-08-07 )

Biography

In 1828, Hess was awarded the rank of adjunct, and, having received an invitation to Petersburg, in 1830 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences.

In the same year, he received the Department of Chemistry at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, equipped a chemical laboratory, and all his life (until his death in 1850) conducted intense scientific work, interrupted only by lectures at various St. Petersburg educational institutions.

Along with chemical research, Hess was engaged in literary activities. In St. Petersburg, he made friends with Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky. Together they were published in the Sovremennik magazine. Hess tried to popularize chemistry as a science in Russia. In the fantastic story "4338" about the development of science in Russia, Hess prophetically describes electricity, air transport, electromagnetic telegraph and atomic energy.

In -1849 he taught at the Mining Institute and at the Artillery School.

But mainly Hess is known as one of the founders of thermochemistry. He discovered the law of constancy of sums of heat (Hess's law). B established the rule of thermoneutrality, according to which, when mixing saline solutions, no heat is released. He found that when neutralizing 1 mole of an equivalent of any strong acid with a strong base, the same amount of heat is always released (13.5 kcal). He discovered and then determined (in -1834) the composition of four new minerals - folbortite, vertite hydroboracite and uvarovite. In 1833, he proposed a method for producing tellurium from silver telluride, a mineral that was first studied by him.

Herman Hess also worked a lot in the field of geochemistry, studied a number of natural minerals (one of which, silver telluride, was named in his honor hessite), the composition of Baku oil.

Hermann Hess also dealt with the methods of teaching chemistry. His textbook "Foundations of Pure Chemistry" (1831) was reprinted seven times (the last - in 1849). In this textbook, the scientist used the Russian chemical nomenclature developed by him. It was published as a separate edition in 1835 under the title "A Brief Overview of Chemical Names" (in the work of which S.A. Nechaev from the Medical-Surgical Academy, M.F.Soloviev from St. Petersburg University and P.G.Sobolevsky from the Mining Institute ). Then this nomenclature was supplemented by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev and has largely survived to this day.

In the 1840s, Hess, on behalf of the Russian government, dealt with alcohol metering. He owns the construction of an alcohol meter, which was used for many years in the Russian Empire; the strength of drinks was measured in degrees according to Hess, the zero point of the scale was "half-bar" (38% alcohol by volume).

Addresses in St. Petersburg

1830 - 30.11.1850 - Nikolaevskaya embankment, 1.

Sources

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• I. A. Leenson. What Petrushka could read about in a chemistry textbook // "Chemistry and Life" No. 2, 2010
• Profile of German Ivanovich Hess on the official website of the RAS

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See what "Hess, German Ivanovich" is in other dictionaries:

Hess Herman Ivanovich - (1802 1850), chemist, one of the founders of thermochemistry, academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). Discovered (1840) a law named after him. Investigated the catalytic properties of platinum, the composition of the Caucasian oil. Opened up sugar acid. * * * HESS Herman ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Hess Herman Ivanovich -, Russian chemist, academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). Professor of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute (1832-1849). In 1840 he discovered the law of constancy of the sums of heat (see Hess's law). In 1842 he established ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

GESS German Ivanovich - (1802 50) Russian chemist, one of the founders of thermochemistry, academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). Discovered (1840) a law named after him. Investigated the catalytic properties of platinum, the composition of the Caucasian oil. I discovered sugar acid ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Hess, Herman Ivanovich - (July 26, 1802 November 30, 1850) Russian. chemist, acad. (since 1830). Born in Geneva, from the age of 3 he was brought up in St. Petersburg. In 1825 he graduated from Dorpat (now Tartu) university of t. Pupil F. I. Giese and G. V. Ozanne. For a thesis on chem. composition and healing ... Big Biographical Encyclopedia - German Ivanovich (1802 50), Russian chemist, one of the founders of thermochemistry. He discovered (1840) the basic law of thermochemistry, according to which the thermal effect of a chemical reaction is determined only by the nature of the initial substances and the resulting products ... Modern encyclopedia

HESS - German Ivanovich (1802-50), chemist, one of the founders of thermochemistry, academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1830). Opened (1840) main. the law of thermochemistry the law of constancy of the amount of heat, named after him. Investigated the catalytic properties of platinum, ... ... Russian history

GESS German Ivanovich
(7.VIII 1802 - 12.XII 1850)

Russian chemist, academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (since 1830). Born in Geneva. Graduated from Dorpat University (Doctor of Medicine, 1825).
Improved his education at Stockholm University (1825). Since 1830 - Professor of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, in 1832-1849. - Petersburg Mining Institute.

One of the founders of thermochemistry. Much earlier than H. Thomsen and P. Berthelot put forward (1840) the position according to which the magnitude of the thermal effects of a reaction can serve as a measure of chemical affinity. He discovered (1840) the basic law of thermochemistry - the law of constancy of the amount of heat, according to which the thermal effect of a reaction depends only on the initial and final states of the reacting substances, and not on the number of stages of the process ( hess's law).

Proved (1842) that when mixing neutral salt solutions, the thermal effect is absent ( thermoneutrality rule). He found that when neutralizing 1 mole of an equivalent of any strong acid with a strong base, the same amount of heat is always released (13.5 kcal).

He discovered and determined (1830-1834) the composition of four new minerals - vertite, uvarovite, hydroboracite and folbortite. He proposed (1833) a method for producing tellurium from silver telluride, a mineral that was first studied by him.
Studied (1832) cobalt oxides. Established catalytic and adsorption properties of finely crushed platinum. He was one of the first to study the composition of Caucasian oils. Opened up sugar acid.

He wrote the textbook "Foundations of Pure Chemistry" (1831), which went through seven editions.

Silver telluride is named in his honor hessite.

Based on materials from the biographical reference book "Outstanding Chemists of the World" (authors Volkov V.A. and others) - Moscow, "Higher School", 1991

G. His father, a painter, devoted himself to teaching in Russia. When he entered Dorpat University, in a year, G. chose medicine as his specialty; but, not being satisfied with it, he also began to study chemistry and geognosy (geology). His doctoral dissertation; "Study of the chemical composition and healing effect of mineral waters in Russia." In the city he received leave to Stockholm, where he studied in the laboratory of Berzelius. In the same year, G. was accompanied by prof. Engelhardt's geognosy on a scientific journey across the Urals, and then served as a doctor in Irkutsk until he was elected to the adjuncts of the Academy of Sciences in chemistry in the city. , research into the causes of spoilage of salted fish in Okhotsk, the causes of spoilage and loss during storage in state-owned salt stores; the result of the latest research, proving the abundant admixture of calcium, magnesium and aluminum chloride to ordinary salt, was the memoir submitted to the Academy of Sciences: "Sur les sels communs du gouvernement d'Irkoutsk" ().

Moving to St. Petersburg and joining the Academy of Sciences made it possible for G. to finally devote himself to chemistry. At this time, he analyzed the Neva water, the water of the river. Sagis, the gas of the sacred Baku fires, gave a geognostic description of the countries located near Lake Baikal; described and gave the exact chemical composition of new minerals: hydroboracite, vertite, uvarovite, foilbortite (contains vanadium) and already known then: diaspora, dioctase, idocrase and Vesuvius lava; pointed out the methods of extracting tellurium from the Kolyvan telluride silver. In the same year, to which most of the listed works belong, G. participated in meetings of the commission to outline a plan for teaching a course in practical and theoretical chemistry for the newly founded Institute of Technology, in which G. took the department of chemistry. In the year appeared the works of G.: "On the decomposition of alcohol with caustic potassium" and "On the property of platinum black to promote the combination of hydrogen with oxygen and on the specific gravity of platinum." In January, G. was appointed an ordinary professor of chemistry and technology at the Main Pedagogical Institute, which had just opened, and in October of the same year he began teaching chemistry at the Mining Institute. The following works are timed to coincide with this year: "On the benefits of using heated air when stoking factory furnaces", research on oil, rubbers, beeswax, alcoholic fermentation of milk sugar. The most outstanding in the field of organic chemistry is the discovery among the products of the oxidation of cane sugar by nitric acid, a new organic acid, which he called sugar. The question of sugar acid caused a heated controversy with Taulov, a student of Liebig who worked in the Giessen laboratory; but the work of another German chemist, Heinz, brilliantly confirmed the discovery of G. In G. published a book: "Foundations of Pure Chemistry." In G. was appointed inspector of St. Petersburg private schools and boarding schools and approved in the rank of ordinary academician. In the city he participated in the "Commission for the consideration of various estimates and projects regarding the arrangement of supplying the capital of the Neva water with the help of water pipes." In G. published his work on thermochemistry, the true founder of which he is; these works G. continued until the end of his life. In G. was invited to teach chemistry at an artillery school. In the city, that is, two years before the publication of the works of Mayer and Joule, G., in his article in the 50th volume of the Poggendorf Annals, expressed the basic proposition of thermochemistry, which is nothing more than an application of the law of conservation of energy to chemical phenomena. “The amount of heat, - wrote G., - developing with any chemical. process, it is always the same, whether the given chem. transformation at once, or gradually, through several stages "; in other words, the thermal effect of the reaction depends only on the initial and final state of the system of reactants. With the help of this basic principle, G. made it possible to calculate the thermal effect of chemical phenomena that are not available in this respect to direct measurement. Regarding the heat of combustion of complex bodies, G. proved experimentally that it should be less than the sum of the heat of combustion of the elements included in the compound, just by the amount of heat of formation of the compound. For the experimental proof of the basic law of thermochemistry of G., the reactions of the formation of ammonium sulfate in aqueous solutions and the reaction of caustic potassium and sodium with hydrochloric acid served. G. established another, no less important law of thermochemistry, the law of thermoneutrality, that is, the absence of heat release during the reactions of exchange decomposition of salts. In the forties, he taught chemistry to the heir to Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, G. was an honorary member of many scientific societies. In G. took Russian citizenship. The tireless work shook the health of G., and he was forced to leave his professorship at the Main Pedagogical Institute in the city. The next