August Karl Krönig (; 20 September 1822 – 5 June 1879) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

who published an account of the

kinetic theory of gases Kinetic (Ancient Greek: κίνησις “kinesis”, movement or to move) may refer to: * Kinetic theory, describing a gas as particles in random motion * Kinetic energy, the energy of an object that it possesses due to its motion Art and ent ...

in 1856, probably after reading a paper by

John James Waterston John James Waterston (1811 – 18 June 1883) was a Scottish physicist and a neglected pioneer of the kinetic theory of gases. Early life Waterston's father, George, was an Edinburgh sealing wax manufacturer and stationer, a relative of the Sande ...

Biography

Krönig was born in Schildesche, now part of

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

. After completing his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen ye ...

he attended the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

for three semesters beginning in 1839 studying primarily Oriental languages. In 1840 he changed focus to physics, chemistry and mathematics and transferred to the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

, where he completed his doctorate in 1845 with a thesis on chromate salts. He then taught at two schools in Berlin, the ''Realgymnasium'' in Cölln and the ''Königliche

Realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...

'' attached to the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin. In 1864 he was given a professorship, but he was forced to retire the same year for reasons of ill health. In 1851 Krönig self-published the ''Journal für Physik und physikalische Chemie des Auslandes in vollständigen Übersichten'', but only one year of issues appeared. In 1856 he published a paper on the kinetic theory of gases, thereby becoming a pioneer of

statistical mechanics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic b ...

and

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws ...

alongside

Rudolf Clausius Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (; 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founding fathers of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's princip ...

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

and

Ludwig Boltzmann Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics, and the statistical explanation of the second law of ther ...

. The paper echoes John James Waterston's 1851 paper on the topic, and may be based on it; Clausius' work was sparked by Krönig's paper but emphasised the implication of "equal volumes equal numbers", which Waterston and Krönig merely noted.Alan J. Rocke, ''Image and Reality: Kekulé, Kopp, and the Scientific Imagination'', Synthesis, Chicago/London: University of Chicago, 2010,
p. 256 and n. 64
Krönig also published various writings on science and on philosophy and theology. He died in Berlin; his remains were reburied in the family grave at the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf, in

Stahnsdorf Stahnsdorf is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. Geography It is situated on the Teltow plateau, about southwest of the Berlin city centre, and east of Potsdam. Neighbouring municipalities are the town ...

, near Berlin.

Publications

* ''De acidi chromici salibus cristallinis'' (doctoral thesis), Berlin, 1845 * ''Neue Methode zur Vermeidung und Auffindung von Rechenfehlern vermittelst der Neuner-, Elfer-, Siebenunddreißiger- und Hundertundeinerprobe. Ein Hülfsmittel für Zahlenrechner'', Berlin, 1855 * "Grundzüge einer Theorie der Gase", ''Annalen der Physik'' 3 (1856), 315 * ''Die Chemie, bearbeitet als Bildungsmittel für den Verstand zum Gebrauche bei dem chemischen Unterricht an höheren Lehranstalten'', Berlin 1864 * ''Wie kritisirt man chemische Lehrbücher? Eine Antikritik'', Berlin, 1865 * ''Die Werthlosigkeit einer grossen Anzahl von chemischen Formeln: Dargethan durch die Grösse der Fehler in Liebig's Analysen und neues Verfahren zur Ableitung der Formel einer Verbindung aus den Gewichtsmengen der Bestandtheile'', Berlin: Julius Springer, 1866 * ''Das Dasein Gottes und das Glück der Menschen, materialistisch-erfahrungsphilosophische Studien, insbesondere über die Gottesfrage und den Darwinismus, über den Selbstbeglückungstrieb als Fundament der Lebensweisheit und praktischen Moral und über die Hauptlehren Kant's und Schopenhauer's'', Berlin, 1874 * ''Sechs neue Rezepte betr. billige Ernährung'', Berlin, 1874

References

Sources

* "August Krönig". In: J. C. Poggendorff. ''Biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch der exacten Wissenschaften'', Leipzig, 1863, Volume 1, p. 752; 1898, Volume 3, p. 752 * Stefan Wolff. "August Krönig". In: Dieter Hoffmann, Hubert Leitko and Staffan Müller-Wille, eds. ''Lexikon bedeutender Naturwissenschaftler''. Wiesbaden-Heidelberg, 2004, , Volume 2, p. 345 * Fritz Krafft. ''Die wichtigsten Naturwissenschaftler im Porträt''. Wiesbaden, 2007, , p. 210 * Michael Gamper. ''Masse lesen, Masse schreiben. Eine Diskurs- und Imaginationsgeschichte''. Munich, 2007, , pp. 437–38 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroenig, August 1822 births 1879 deaths 19th-century German chemists 19th-century German physicists Scientists from Bielefeld

Biography

Publications

See also

References

Sources