Julius Tafel (2 June 1862 – 2 September 1918) was a Swiss

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 ...

and

electrochemist Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve electrons moving via an electronically conducting phase (typica ...

Early life and education

Julius Tafel was born in the village of Choindez in Courrendlin,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 2 June 1862. Tafel's father, Julius Tafel Sr. (1827-1893) studied chemistry in Tubingen and became a director of

Von Roll Von Roll Holding AG is a Swiss industrial group that operates worldwide that was founded in 1803. As one of Switzerland's longest-established industrial companies, Von Roll focuses today on products and systems for electrical applications such a ...

’s iron and steel works located in Choindez in 1856, and then took a top management position in steel works located in Gerlafingen in 1863. Tafel attended the Realgymnasium in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, then studied chemistry from 1880 in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, and

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

. In 1884, he earned his Ph.D. under

Emil Fischer Hermann Emil Louis Fischer (; 9 October 1852 – 15 July 1919) was a German chemist and List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry, 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fisch ...

, who had joined Erlangen in 1882. Tafel followed Fischer to

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

in 1885 as his private assistant and completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1888.

Work

He worked first with Emil Fischer on the field of organic chemistry, but changed to

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between Electric potential, electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change. These reactions involve Electron, electrons moving via an electronic ...

after his work with

Wilhelm Ostwald Wilhelm Friedrich Ostwald (; – 4 April 1932) was a Latvian chemist and philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst and Svante Arrhenius. ...

. He is known for the discovery of an electrosynthetic rearrangement reaction of various

alkylated Alkylation is a chemical reaction that entails transfer of an alkyl group. The alkyl group may be transferred as an alkyl carbocation, a free radical, a carbanion, or a carbene (or their equivalents). Alkylating agents are reagents for effecting al ...

ethyl

acetoacetate Acetoacetic acid ( IUPAC name: 3-oxobutanoic acid, also known as acetonecarboxylic acid or diacetic acid) is the organic compound with the formula CHCOCHCOOH. It is the simplest beta-keto acid, and like other members of this class, it is unstable ...

s to form

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and Hydrophobe, hydrophobic; their odor is usually fain ...

s, now called the Tafel rearrangement, and the

Tafel equation The Tafel equation is an equation in electrochemical kinetics relating the rate of an Electrochemistry, electrochemical reaction to the overpotential. The Tafel equation was first deduced experimentally and was later shown to have a theoretical ...

, which relates the rate of an electrochemical reaction to the

overpotential In electrochemistry, overpotential is the potential difference (voltage) between a half-reaction's thermodynamically determined reduction potential and the potential at which the redox event is experimentally observed. The term is directly r ...

. He is also credited for the discovery of the

catalytic Catalysis () is the increase in reaction rate, rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst ...

mechanism of

hydrogen evolution Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all normal matter. Under standard conditions, hydrogen is a gas of diatomic ...

(the Tafel mechanism). Tafel retired aged 48 due to ill health but continued to write book reviews until his death.

Death

Tafel suffered from

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...

and eventually had a complete nervous breakdown. He committed suicide in Munich in 1918.

References

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External links

* * 1862 births 1918 suicides 1918 deaths Electrochemists Swiss chemists Suicides in Germany Swiss emigrants to Germany {{chemist-stub