Carl Dietrich Harries (5 August 1866 – 3 November 1923) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

born in

Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper Sorbian language, Upper and , , ) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Ni ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. He received his doctorate in 1892. In 1900, he married

Hertha von Siemens Hertha may refer to: Sports clubs *Hertha BSC, a German football club *Hertha Zehlendorf, a German football club *CFC Hertha 06, a German sports club *ASV Hertha Wien, a defunct Austrian German football club *FC Hertha Wiesbach, a German football ...

, daughter of the electrical genius

Werner von Siemens Ernst Werner Siemens ( von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He ...

, and the inventor of one of the earliest

ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...

generators. In 1904, he moved as full professor to the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

, where he remained until 1916. During that time he published numerous papers on

ozonolysis In organic chemistry, ozonolysis is an organic reaction where the Saturated and unsaturated compounds, unsaturated bonds are Bond cleavage, cleaved with ozone (). Multiple carbon–carbon bond are replaced by carbonyl () groups, such as aldehydes ...

. His major publication detailing ozonolysis was published in Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1905, 343, 311. Dissatisfied with academic life and having failed to obtain either of two positions at universities, he left academia to become director of research at Siemens and Halske. He died on 3 November 1923 of complications following surgery for

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. He was buried at

Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery The Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery () is a Protestant rural cemetery in Germany. Established in 1909, the cemetery is located in the municipality of Stahnsdorf in Potsdam-Mittelmark district, Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. With a la ...

near Berlin. His great-grandfather was the German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Heinrich Harries Heinrich Harries (9 September 1762, Flensburg – 28 September 1802) was a German Protestant pastor from the Duchy of Schleswig, then under Denmark-Norway, Danish sovereignty. Harries wrote the lyrics for "Heil dir im Siegerkranz" for King Ch ...

Accomplishments

He investigated

polymers A polymer () is a substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, b ...

and

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

. He showed that rubber consisted of repeating units. He established experimental procedures for ozonolysis, demonstrated the generality of the reaction of

unsaturated compound A saturated compound is a chemical compound (or ion) that resists addition reactions, such as hydrogenation, oxidative addition, and the binding of a Lewis base. The term is used in many contexts and classes of chemical compounds. Overall, satu ...

s with ozone, and showed that ozone could be used for the

synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry *Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors **Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organi ...

of a variety of compounds.

References

* 1866 births 1923 deaths Burials at Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery People from Luckenwalde Scientists from the Kingdom of Prussia 20th-century German chemists Academic staff of the University of Kiel 19th-century German chemists {{Germany-chemist-stub