Friedrich Emich (5 September 1860 – 22 January 1940) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

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 ...

. Emich is recognized as the founder of

microchemistry Microscale chemistry (often referred to as small-scale chemistry, in German: Chemie im Mikromaßstab) is an analytical method and also a teaching method widely used at school and at university levels, working with small quantities of chemical sub ...

and worked at

Graz University of Technology Graz University of Technology (german: link=no, Technische Universität Graz, short ''TU Graz'') is one of five universities in Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria and is the oldest science and technology research ...

. Together with his colleague from the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

Fritz Pregl Fritz Pregl ( sl, Friderik Pregl; 3 September 1869 – 13 December 1930), was a Slovenian-Austrian chemist and physician from a mixed Slovene-German-speaking background. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1923 for making important contribut ...

he perfected the work in small scales analysis.

was awarded the

Nobel Prize for Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

in 1923 for his work on

microanalysis Microanalysis is the chemical identification and quantitative analysis of very small amounts of chemical substances (generally less than 10 mg or 1 ml) or very small surfaces of material (generally less than 1 cm2). One of the pioneer ...

Life

Emich was born in Graz in 1860. He went to school in Graz and started studying chemistry at

(formerly Technische Hochschule Graz) in 1878. Emich worked as a student in the laboratory of professor Richard Maly. He received his PhD in 1884 and after teaching in a school for a short period he handed in his habilitation in 1888. He became assistant professor at Graz University of Technology in 1889 and full professor in 1894. Emich served as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of his alma mater for four periods (1899/1900, 1907/1908, 1908/1909, 1920/21). He stayed in Graz the rest of his academic career until his retirement in 1931.

Work

Emich started with work on natural products, for example bile acid. in the 20th century he changed more to research of

inorganic chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with synthesis and behavior of inorganic and organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subjects of organic chemistry. The distinction between the two disci ...

, for example the chemistry of

nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide *Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), or n ...

s, the

fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts typ ...

s of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

and

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

and the reactions in explosive gases. His first publication on microchemistry was in 1893 where he described a method to identify

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

. His work focused steadily on microchemistry and in 1911 he published his book ''Lehrbuch der Mikrochemie'' (''Textbook of Microchemistry''). In the following years Emich was able to introduce several new methods into chemistry which were essential for working in small scales. Emich improved the quartz fiber balance and he introduced capillary pipettes to handle small amounts of liquid for analysis. In 1911 he received the Austrian

Lieben Prize The Ignaz Lieben Prize, named after the Austrian banker , is an annual Austrian award made by the Austrian Academy of Sciences to young scientists working in the fields of molecular biology, chemistry, or physics. Biography The Ignaz Lieben Priz ...

for his work on microchemistry. After the publication of his second book ''Mikrochemisches Praktikum'' in 1924 he spent considerable time teaching visitors to Graz University of Technology his new methods. After his retirement in 1931 he received the

Liebig Medal The Liebig Medal (German: ''Liebig-Denkmünze'') was established by the (''Verein Deutscher Chemiker'') in 1903 to celebrate the centenary of Justus von Liebig. Since 1946 it has been awarded by the Society of German Chemists (''Gesellschaft De ...

. He worked in the laboratories of the university until 1937 and died in Graz in 1940.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emich 1860 births 1940 deaths Austrian chemists Austro-Hungarian scientists Graz University of Technology alumni