Hermann Blau (21 January 1871 – 18 February 1944) was a German engineer and chemist, and inventor of

Blau gas Blau gas () is an artificial illuminating gas that is similar to propane. It was named after its inventor, Hermann Blau of Augsburg, Germany. Rarely used or produced today, it was manufactured by decomposing mineral oils in retorts by heat, an ...

. Blau, a student of the Nobel Prize–winning chemist

Adolf von Baeyer Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (; 31 October 1835 – 20 August 1917) was a German chemist who synthesised indigo dye, indigo and developed a Von Baeyer nomenclature, nomenclature for cyclic compounds (that was subsequently extended a ...

, was originally a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

, but devoted himself in later life entirely to chemistry. His attempts to separate gas mixtures by physical means eventually led to the great invention of his life, a transportable liquid lighting gas from the distillation of gases known as

. It was the manufacturer

Ludwig August Riedinger Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig von Koopa, a character in Mario (the game) Arts and entertai ...

who inspired the inventor to start his first production facility, the ''Blaugas'' factory, in 1903 in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

at the Auer roads. The Augsburg-based company operated later on with Riedinger under the name the German Blau gas company which controlled factories in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, the United States, Canada and Cuba. Blau gas has a rather water-like color. It was stored in steel cylinders for shipment and had the advantages that it possessed the highest

specific energy Specific energy or massic energy is energy per unit mass. It is also sometimes called gravimetric energy density, which is not to be confused with energy density, which is defined as energy per unit volume. It is used to quantify, for example, st ...

from all artificial produced gases and unlike

coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

it was free from

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a poisonous, flammable gas that is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the si ...

. Its main use was for lighting purposes especially in places where coal gas was not available. Blau gas factories were operated in Denmark and Holland for the supply of

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

s. When electric lights became more common and the extraction of

propane Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...

became popular because of its cheaper production, Blau gas was pushed out of the market. As a consequence of this decline, the Blaugas factory in Augsburg closed down in the fall of 1933, and moved the main operation of the company to a town in northern Germany. Blau gas experienced an almost unexpected upswing when attempts were made to run the engines of the Zeppelin airships with Blau gas. The decisive factor was the fact that the weight of Blau gas hardly differs from that of air and the use of large quantities of the propellant had little impact on the ships'

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is the force exerted by a fluid opposing the weight of a partially or fully immersed object (which may be also be a parcel of fluid). In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of t ...

. This advantage was evident on the Zeppelin airship's first voyage to America. Starting in 1929, the Zeppelin construction facility in Friedrichshafen produced the required Blau gas in a Blau manufacturing plant; the use of Blau gas as a buoyancy compensator was demonstrated with the

LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' () was a German passenger-carrying hydrogen-filled rigid airship that flew from 1928 to 1937. It offered the first commercial transatlantic flight, transatlantic passenger flight service. The ship was named after th ...

. Hermann Blau was born in

Graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

and died in

Stephanskirchen Stephanskirchen () is a municipality in the district of Rosenheim (district), Rosenheim, Upper Bavaria in Germany. Geography Stephanskirchen is located on a glacially formed plateau. The Inn (river), Inn river on the west and the lake Simssee ...

Rosenheim Rosenheim () is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the Rosenheim (district), district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn ...

. He was married to Caroline Blau, had a daughter, Martha, and four sons, Hermann, Rudolf, Edmund and Theodor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blau, Hermann 1871 births 1944 deaths 20th-century German inventors 20th-century German chemists Scientists from Karlsruhe