Julius Isidor Lewkowitsch (1857–1913) was a German chemical engineer, specialising in vegetable and animal

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

s and

fat In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...

s, who settled in Victorian England. He was the author of ''The Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Fats, and Waxes'', a standard text that went through five editions in the years 1895–1921.

William D. Rubinstein William D. Rubinstein (born 12 August 1946) is a historian and author. His best-known work, ''Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution'', charts the rise of the ' super rich', a class he sees as expanding ex ...

, Michael A. Jolles and

Hilary L. Rubinstein Hilary L. Rubinstein (born 1946) is an Australian historian and author. She researches and writes on British naval history and modern Jewish history. Biography She graduated with a BA(Hons) in economics, history and politics at Keele Universi ...

(eds.), ''Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), s.v. Lewkowitsch.

Life

Julius Lewkowitsch was born in Ostrowo (then in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

) on 4 September 1857, into a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. In 1879 he obtained a doctorate from Breslau University, where he studied under Victor von Richter.Carter Litchfield collection on the history of fatty materials, Accession 2413
– Biographical note: Julius Lewkowitsch. Accessed 10 January 2017. After short periods as a secondary-school teacher and as a research assistant to

Victor Meyer Viktor Meyer (8 September 18488 August 1897) was a German chemist and significant contributor to both organic and inorganic chemistry. He is best known for inventing an apparatus for determining vapour densities, the Viktor Meyer apparatus, and f ...

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...

, Lewkowitsch became an industrial researcher. In 1887 he moved to England as Technical Manager to the soap manufacturers Joseph Watson & Sons in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, where he developed a way of preparing glycerin from soap lye without the use of arsenic. In 1889 he became a member of the

Society of Chemical Industry The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Offices The society's headquarters is in Belgrave Square, London. There are semi-in ...

. In 1895 he set up in business as a consulting chemist in Manchester, moving to London in 1898. He established his own laboratory in

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage ...

. On 5 May 1902 Lewkowitsch married Katherine Julia Morris. Their two children were Elsa Lewkowitsch and

Jason Farradane Jason Farradane, born Jason Lewkowitsch (29 September 1906 – 27 June 1989) was a British librarian of Polish descent. Life The son of the chemical engineer Julius Lewkowitsch, Farradane graduated in chemistry in 1929 at what is now Imperial Col ...

. Lewkowitsch died at

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

on 15 September 1913.Obituary in ''The Analyst'', 38/482 (Nov. 1913) In 1980 the Society of Chemical Industry's biennial Julius Lewkowitsch Memorial Lecture was established in his memory in accordance with a bequest by his daughter, Elsa.

Awards

Lavoisier Medal A Lavoisier Medal is an award named and given in honor of Antoine Lavoisier, considered by some to be a father of modern chemistry.

, 1909

Publications

*''The Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Fats, and Waxes'', first edition 1895. Lewkowitsch was a contributor to the 11th edition of the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' (1911).

References

External links

Photograph of Julius Lewkowitsch
ca. 1896, Litchfield Collection on the History of Fatty Materials. Accessed 10 January 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewkowitsch, Julius 1857 births 1913 deaths 19th-century German Jews 19th-century German chemists Jewish chemists 20th-century British chemists German emigrants to the United Kingdom