Carl Oswald Victor Engler (5 January 1842 – 7 February 1925) was a German chemist, academic and politician. He wrote a Handbook of Industrial Chemistry in 1872. He is remembered for his early work in

indigo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

Biography

Engler was the son of a pastor, and he studied

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from 1859 at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic where he became a scientific assistant in 1863. In 1864 he became a Doctor of Philosophy at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

, and he taught there as a private lecturer from 1867 until 1872. In 1872 Engler became extraordinary professor of chemistry at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

where he published his ''Handbuch der technischen Chemie'' ("Handbook of Industrial Chemistry") between 1872 and 1874 (co-author,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

professor

Friedrich Stohmann Friedrich Karl Adolf Stohmann (25 April 1832 – 1 November 1897) was a German agricultural chemist. Biography He was born in Bremen and studied at Göttingen, where he became member of Burschenschaft Hannovera (fraternity), and London. He was T ...

). The two-volume edition was based on

Anselme Payen Anselme Payen (; 6 January 1795 – 12 May 1871) was a French chemist known for discovering the enzyme diastase, and the carbohydrate cellulose. Biography Payen was born in Paris. He began studying science with his father when he was a 13-yea ...

's ''Précis de chimie industrielle''. In 1876 he became a tenured professor of chemical technology and headmaster of the chemical technical Laboratory at the polytechnic school in Karlsruhe (from 1885 the Technical University Karlsruhe). In 1887 he became a professor of chemistry and director of the Technical University Karlsruhe. In 1870 he and

Adolph Emmerling Adolph Emmerling (13 June 1842, Freiburg im Breisgau – 17 March 1906, Baden-Baden) was a German chemist, known for his research in the field of agricultural chemistry. He studied chemistry at the University of Freiburg, receiving his doctora ...

, a student of

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 ...

, published a work in which the two first reported the formation of traces of

in a material not derived from indigo. Therefore, they have not found indigo “synthesis”, as often reported. Adolf von Baeyer succeeded in this in 1878, who also described in 1883 the correct structural formula. From 1884 he turned to the

petrochemistry Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

. He took a study trip in 1885 to the production area in the Caucasus, travelling later to the Middle East (

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

) and to North America. Engler argued that oil originated in ancient times from animal fat. His later research focused on

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

. To determine the

viscosity Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent drag (physics), resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for e ...

, he developed the Engler viscometer. Together with Hans Höfer he published in 1919 the six-volume work "Das Erdöl – Seine Physik, Chemie, Geologie, Technologie und sein Wirtschaftsbetrieb“ in two editions from 1927. Besides his researches in petroleum he also studied the properties of ozone and from 1903 he was a member in the Board of

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

, where he was involved in the development of the

Haber process The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the ammonia production, production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using finely di ...

Politics

Engler was politically active in the National Liberal Party. As a representative he had a seat in the Reichstag from 1887 till 1890 and from 1890 till 1904 in the first Chamber of the

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

Assembly.

Honors

*Honorary doctor at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and

Technische Universität Darmstadt The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmsta ...

in 1911 *Honorary doctor at the University of Munich in 1918 The Carl-Engler-Medal of the Deutsche Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Erdöl, Erdgas und Kohle e.V. is named after him. The Vocational School for Chemistry professionals in Karlsruhe also bears his name. Also the“ Engler-Bunte Institute“ at

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Karlsruhe (), founde ...

is named after Engler and Hans Bunte.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engler, Carl Oswald Victor 1842 births 1925 deaths People from Emmendingen (district) People from the Grand Duchy of Baden German Protestants National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians Members of the 7th Reichstag of the German Empire 19th-century German chemists Academic staff of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology BASF people 20th-century German chemists