Otto Karl Julius Röhm (; 14 March 1876, Öhringen,

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 ...

– 17 September 1939,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was one of the founders and a longtime president of the ''Röhm und Haas'' chemical company which became later in the USA the Rohm and Haas (today ''

Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

'') and in Germany the Röhm GmbH (today ''

Evonik Degussa Evonik Industries AG is a stock-listed German specialty chemicals company headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the second largest chemicals company in Germany, and one of the largest specialty chemicals companies in the ...

'').

Life

After completion of an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

assistant he started to study pharmacy at the

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and Tübingen. As a graduated apothecary he completed his studies in 1901 at Tübingen with a dissertation in chemistry on " Polymerisation products of the

acrylic acid Acrylic acid (IUPAC: propenoic acid) is an organic compound with the formula CH2=CHCOOH. It is the simplest unsaturated carboxylic acid, consisting of a vinyl group connected directly to a carboxylic acid terminus. This colorless liquid has a ...

". He is named in over 70 patents as inventor or co-inventor. When he died in 1939, his company Röhm GmbH employed 1800 workers and the annual revenues exceeded 22 million

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...

. His name is carried by several streets and other public places in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

Weiterstadt Weiterstadt () is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated directly northwest of Darmstadt. Twin towns – sister cities Weiterstadt is twinned with: * Bagno a Ripoli, Italy * Kiens, Italy * Verneuil-sur-Seine ...

and

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

Career

After the university he started as a researcher at the

Merck Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including: * the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668 ** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...

company, later he worked for the

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

city gasworks. Here Otto Röhm focused on the processing of leather. He discovered an

enzymatic Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

leather staining process. This led to a substitute (brand name ''Oropon'') for the fermented dog dung which was formerly used for bating leather (part of the

tanning Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

process). In 1907 he founded the company Röhm & Haas together with the businessman

Otto Haas Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...

in Esslingen,

. Very soon, Otto Haas expanded the business to the USA, in 1909 he founded the first oversea subsidiary in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. At the same time in Germany Röhm moved the company to

where a larger plant was set up being closer to the leather industry of the Rhein-Main Region.

Science

Otto Röhm was the first chemist who isolated and applied

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...

s in technical applications. This led to a revolution in the production and in the use of washing

detergent A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions. There are a large variety of detergents, a common family being the alkylbenzene sulfonates, which are soap-like compounds that are more ...

s around 1914. In 1920 he introduced enzymes in the

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

industry and 1934 in the food industry, first application here was the clarifying of fruit juices. Additionally, the development of

polymethyl methacrylate Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

(PMMA) contributed to his economical success. In 1933 he patented and registered the brand '' PLEXIGLAS'' (''PLEXIGLASS'' for the international markets).

External links

Webseite of the Evonik Degussa / Röhm GmbH - Company History

Webseite of the Evonik Degussa / Röhm GmbH - Otto Röhm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohm, Otto 1876 births 1939 deaths People from Öhringen Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni German pharmacists German businesspeople German chemists German inventors