Franz Karl Achard (28 April 1753 – 20 April 1821) was a German (
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
n)
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 t ...
,
geoscientist,
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 ...
, and
biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
. His principal discovery was the production of
sugar from
sugar beets.
Life and work
Achard was born in Berlin, the son of preacher Max Guillaume Achard, a descendant of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
refugees, and his wife Marguerite Elisabeth (Rouppert). He studied physics and chemistry in Berlin. He became interested in sugar refining through his stepfather. At the age of 20, Achard entered the "Circle of Friends of Natural Sciences" and met
Andreas Sigismund Marggraf
Andreas Sigismund Marggraf (; 3 March 1709 – 7 August 1782) was a German chemist from Berlin, then capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and a pioneer of analytical chemistry. He isolated zinc in 1746 by heating Calamine (mineral), calamine ...
, then director of the physical classes at the Royal Academy of Sciences. Achard studied many subjects, including
meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
,
evaporation chillness,
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...
,
telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
,
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
,
lightning arrester
A lightning arrester (alternative spelling lightning arrestor) (also called lightning isolator) is a device, essentially an air gap between an electric wire and ground, used on electric power transmission and telecommunication systems to protect ...
s, and published in German and French.
Achard was a favourite of King
Frederick II of Prussia, and directly reported to the King on his research twice a week. About a study on the influence of electricity on mental capabilities, Frederick II was reported to have said: ''If he is able to provide reason for the half-wits in my Prussian states using electricity, then he is worth more than his own weight in gold.''
In 1776 Achard was elected to the
Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin. In 1778, Achard was elected as member of the German
Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...
.Following the death of Marggraf in 1782, Archard went on to become the director of the physical classes of the academy. In 1782 he was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
For his discoveries in the acclimatisation of tobacco to Germany, the king granted him a lifetime pension of 500
taler. Achard was also esteemed by
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II (german: Friedrich Wilhelm II.; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and (via the Orange-Nassau inherita ...
.
Achard revived the discovery by Marggraf in 1747 that sugar beets contained sugar, and devised a process to produce sugar from sugar beets. Beginning in 1789, he planted various sugar-bearing plants on his manor in
Kaulsdorf near Berlin. He soon preferred sugar beets because of their efficiency. In the following year he studied different varieties of beets and the influence of
fertiliser
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
s. The research was interrupted when Kaulsdorf manor burnt down and had to be sold. Achard later continued on the manor
Französisch Buchholz
Französisch Buchholz (), also known simply as Buchholz, is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow.
History
First mentioned in 1242 as ''Buckholtz'' in a document, it became the property of Frederick Wi ...
.
In 1801, with the support of King
Friedrich Wilhelm III
Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, w ...
, he opened the first sugar beet refinery at
Gut Kunern near
Steinau Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
,
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
. In 1802, the refinery processed 400 tons of beets with a degree of efficiency of 4%. Other refineries were soon built by his students
Johann Gottlob Nathusius and Moritz, Freiherr von Koppy. In 1807 Achard's plant was burned down during the Napoleonic Wars and in 1810 it was rebuilt on a small scale. Embargoes by Napoleon kept cane sugar imports away from Germany and thus the growing and refining of sugar beets became highly important for the Prussian government. Refineries also appeared in
Bohemia,
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
and in 1811 in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. France itself built many refineries and was only in later years surpassed by Prussia.
English sugar merchants offered Achard 200,000 taler to declare his experiments a failure but he refused. With Achard's discovery, sugar was no longer a luxury product, but local production became a necessity, due to the embargoes. Achard taught classes to have a large number of sugar beet growers and the specially developed sugar beets became available for everyone. Achard described the sugar beet as, "one of the most bountiful gifts which the devine munificence had awarded to man on earth."
In 1794, Achard built an
optical telegraph between
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...
and
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to:
Placenames
Australia
* Bellevue, Western Australia
* Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
* Bellevue, Queensland
* Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales
Canada ...
. This device had been invented just one year before by
Claude Chappe.
Due to Archard's financial difficulties as a result of several fires in 1807, his refineries were declared bankrupt in 1815. He died, destitute, in 1821 in
Wohlau. His life's work was carried on mainly by French industrialists such as at the refineries of
Matthias Christian Rabbethge. In mid 19th century America, Achard's grandson Anton William Waldemar Achard successfully promoted beet sugar production in
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
according to a later descendant,
Emil Lockwood
Emil Lockwood (September 23, 1919 – August 2, 2002) was an American businessman and politician who represented Gratiot County in the Michigan Senate from 1963 to 1970, serving as the Senate Minority Leader from 1965 to 1966 and Senate Majorit ...
, son of Mabel Pauline Achard.
[Fedewa, ''MAN IN MOTION'', 15, 240.]
Publications
* ''Lectures on Experimental Philosophy'' 4 vol., 1792
* ''Abhandlung über die Bereitung des Zuckers aus der in vielen Provinzen allerhöchst - Dero Staaten, als Viehfutter häufig angebauten Runkelrübe, nebst den dazu gehörigen Belägen und Proben des Runkelrübenzuckers'' [Treatise on the preparation of sugar from the sugar beet, which is often cultivated as fodder in many provinces of your highness's states, together with the related documentation and samples of beet sugar], Berlin, 1799
* ''Anleitung zur Bereitung des Rohzuckers aus Rüben'' [Guide to the preparation of raw sugar from beets], Berlin, 1800
* ''Kurze Geschichte der Beweise der Ausführbarkeit im Großen der Zuckerfabrication aus Runkelrüben''
rief history of the proof of the feasibility of the large scale production of sugar from sugar beets Berlin, 1800
* ''Anleitung zum Anbau der Runkelrüben''
uide to the cultivation of sugar beets Breslau, 1803
* ''Über den Einfluß der Runkelrübenzuckerfabrication auf die Ökonomie''
n the influence on the economy of the production of sugar from sugar beets Glogau, 1805
* ''Die europäische Zuckerfabrication aus Runkelrüben''
uropean sugar production from sugar beets Leipzig, 1812
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Achard, Franz Karl - Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (German)
Zuckermuseum Berlin(German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achard, Franz Karl
1753 births
1821 deaths
Scientists from Berlin
18th-century German chemists
People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
History of sugar
19th-century agronomists
18th-century agronomists
19th-century German chemists