![Lazăr Edeleanu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Laz%C4%83r_Edeleanu.png)
Lazăr Edeleanu (; 1 September 1861,
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
– 7 April 1941, Bucharest) was a
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
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 ...
of Jewish origin.
The Romanian Jewish Community
at www.romanianjewish.org He is known for being the first chemist to synthesize amphetamine at 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 ...
and for inventing the modern method of refining crude oil.
Research activity in England and Romania
After completing lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
at Saint Sava High School, he went to study at 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 ...
. He obtained his doctorate in Chemistry in 1887, with thesis "About some derivatives of phenyl methacrylic acid and phenyl isobutyric acid" written under the direction of August Wilhelm von Hofmann
August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 18185 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the g ...
. After that, Edeleanu worked for some time at the Royal College of Artillery in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
as a lecturer and as an assistant to Professor Hodgkinson. During this period, he collaborated with Charles Frederick Cross
Charles Frederick Cross FRS (11 December 1855 – 15 April 1935) was a British chemist.
Born in Brentford, Middlesex, his fatherCharles James Cross (14 October 1827 - 19 November 1910) was a schoolmaster turned soap manufacturer. After graduati ...
and Edward John Bevan
Edward John Bevan (11 December 1856 – 17 October 1921) was an English chemist. He became a leader in the affairs of the Society of Public Analysts and editor of The Analyst.
Bevan was notable for his caustic wit. He was born in Birkenhead. Af ...
to create a certain type of artificial fireproof silk. With Raphael Meldola
Raphael Meldola FRS (19 July 1849 – 16 November 1915) was a British chemist and entomologist. He was Professor of Organic Chemistry in the University of London, 1912–15.
Life
Born in Islington, London, he was descended from Raphael Me ...
he created oxazine
Oxazines are heterocyclic compounds containing one oxygen and one nitrogen atom in a doubly unsaturated six-membered ring. Isomers exist depending on the relative position of the heteroatoms and relative position of the double bonds.
By extensi ...
-based dyes.
Back in Romania, he was hired by the chemist Constantin I. Istrati as an assistant and then as a lecturer at the University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
's Faculty of Sciences. in the Organic Chemistry Department. In 1906 he was appointed Head of the Chemistry Laboratory at the Geology Institute, founded that year, and director of Vega Refinery near Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commune ...
, a refinery owned at that time by the German company Diskont). In 1907, along with Ion Tănăsescu, he co-organized the Petroleum Congress in Bucharest and co-authored a monograph on the physical and technical properties of Romanian crude oil.
His most significant invention, was the Edeleanu process (1908). It is a process in which petroleum is refined with liquid sulfur dioxide to selectively extract aromatic hydrocarbons
Aromatic compounds, also known as "mono- and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", are organic compounds containing one or more aromatic rings. The parent member of aromatic compounds is benzene. The word "aromatic" originates from the past groupin ...
(benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms ...
, toluene
Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH3) a ...
, xylene
In organic chemistry, xylene or xylol (; IUPAC name: dimethylbenzene) are any of three organic compounds with the formula . They are derived from the substitution of two hydrogen atoms with methyl groups in a benzene ring; which hydrogens are s ...
, etc.). The procedure was first applied experimentally in Romania at the Vega Refinery and later spread to 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 ...
(notably Rouen), Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and subsequently throughout the world.
Research and business in Germany
In 1910, Edeleanu settled in Germany where he founded a company called "Allgemeine Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie". Due to the success of the name "Edeleanu", the company changed its name to Edeleanu GmbH in 1930. During the Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
regime, it was bought by the Deutsche Erdöl-AG. Several ownership changes later it was acquired by Uhde GmbH in 2002, which is owned by the Thyssenkrupp
ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg a ...
trust. The name Edeleanu is still used for the refinery department until this day.
Edeleanu returned to Romania, where he died in Bucharest in April 1941.
Heritage
By 1960, there were 80 Edeleanu facilities worldwide. The Edeleanu Method is still used today, in its many variations, and remains the basic process for manufacturing high quality oils.
Edeleanu obtained 212 patents for inventions in Romania, the United States, Germany, France, Austria, Sweden, and Holland.
Prizes and honors
* 1910 – Member of the Society of Natural Sciences in Moscow
* 1925 – Honorary Member of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists in London (1925)
* 1932 – Theophilus Redwood
Theophilus Redwood (9 April 1806 – 5 March 1892) was a Welsh pharmacist who was one of the founding members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. He was born in Boverton, Llantwit Major.
In 1820 he was apprenticed to his brother- ...
Medal for lifetime scientific achievement in analytic chemistry
Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...
.
References
Sources
*FCER - ''Contribuția evreilor din România la cultură și civilizație'', Editura Hasefer, 2004 p. 215-216 (Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania - Contributions of Romanian Jews to culture and civilization, Hasefer Publishing House, Bucharest 2004, in Romanian 215–216)
*''Allgemeine deutsche Biographie & Neue deutsche Biographie'' Bd.4,Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959
* Magdalene Moureau, Gerald Brace, ''Dictionnaire du petrole et d'autres sources d'energie –anglais- français'' Ed. Technip 2008
* E H J Rosenberg- ''The History of selective solvents'', 1st World Petroleum Congress, 18–24 July 1933, London, UK
*''Dr. L. Edeleanu'' – Ludovic Marzec, in the Monit. Petr. Roumanie, obituary article – 1941
Further reading
*S. Benari, ''Lazăr Edeleanu'', Editura Stiințifică și enciclopedică, București, 1982 (in Romanian)
*O. Păduraru -''Bibliografia lucrărilor și brevetelor în limba engleză de dr. L. Edeleanu'' (Anglo-Rumanian Bibliography of works and brevets of dr L.Edeleanu), București 1946.
*I. Drimuș, C. Tache – ''Lazăr Edeleanu, precursor al chimizării petrolului'' , (in Romanian) in Revista de chimie 1958
*Robert Treybal- '' Liquid extraction '' – McGraw Hill Book Co, 1951 first edition
*Avelino Sequeira – '' Lubricant base oil and wax processing CRC Press 1994''
*Alan A. Comyns – ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Named Processes in Chemical'' ''Technology''- CRC Press 1999
External links
biography – in Romanian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edeleanu, Lazar
1861 births
1941 deaths
Scientists from Bucharest
Romanian Jews
Romanian chemists
Saint Sava National College alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
University of Bucharest faculty