Karl Friedrich Luts (15 November 1883,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

– 15 January 1942,

Usolye Usolye (russian: Усо́лье) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. The name is an archaic Russian term for a salt-producing locality. ;Urban localities *Usolye, Usolsky District, Perm Krai, a town in Usolsky District of Perm ...

Perm Oblast Until 1 December 2005, Perm Oblast (russian: Пе́рмская о́бласть) was a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) in Privolzhsky (Volga) Federal District. According to the results of the referendum held in October 2004, Perm Oblast was ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...

chemist and politician. Karl Luts was born on 15 November 1883 in St. Petersburg,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. He studied at the St. Petersburg's St. John's Church School and in 1896–1899 he studied privately at the Craft School of the Imperial Technical School. In 1898, Karl Luts joined the St. Petersburg Estonian Students' Society where he became a member of the board. In 1905-1912, he studied at the Petersburg Imperial Institute of Technology and the

Saint Petersburg Imperial University Saint Petersburg Imperial University (russian: Санкт-Петербургский Императорский университет) was a Russian higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg, one of the twelve Imperial universities ...

, which he graduated as a chemist. After graduation, he worked as a drawer at different factories of St Petersburg and as an assistant at the

Bekhterev Psychoneurological Institute The St. Petersburg Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute (russian: Санкт-Петербургский научно-исследовательский психоневрологический институт им. В. М. Бехтер� ...

. He was one of the founders of Estonian high-school in St. Petersburg. In 1918–1919, Karl Luts was appointed Minister of Education of the

Estonian Provisional Government The Estonian Provisional Government ( et, Eesti Ajutine Valitsus) was formed on 24 February 1918, by the Salvation Committee appointed by ''Maapäev'', the Estonian Province Assembly. History Konstantin Päts' first provisional cabinet The Pr ...

. However, he never took the office because at the same time he was imprisoned in Russia by the Soviet regime. In 1920, Karl Luts moved to

Kohtla-Järve Kohtla-Järve is a city and municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of various petrochemical products ...

and became the head of the National Laboratory of Oil Shale and the Kohtla oil-shale factory at the State Oil Shale Industry of Estonia. There is a street in Kohtla-Järve named after Karl Luts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luts, Karl Friedrich 1883 births 1942 deaths Estonian chemists Education ministers of Estonia Oil shale in Estonia Oil shale researchers Saint Petersburg State University alumni Estonian people who died in Soviet detention People who died in the Gulag Scientists from Saint Petersburg