high-pressure research, and when Friedrich Bergius conceived the idea of
hydrogenating coal under high pressure it was to Karlsruhe he came, (1908)
1
working under Haber for one semester in Haber’s personal laboratory. This
work led to the original coal-to-oil conversion preceding the better-known
Fischer-Tropsch process—which eventually saw him achieve the Nobel Prize
in 1931 (jointly with Carl Bosch). Haber and Zsygmunt Klemensiewiscz were
to invent the glass electrode in 1909 and J. E. Coates was to become Professor
of Chemistry at University College Swansea in 1920. Paul Krassa—a distant
relative of Haber’s wife—was eventually appointed as Professor of Physical
Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Santiago Chile, and
Hermann Staudinger a pioneer of macromolecular chemistry went on to
receive the Nobel Prize in 1953. But capable as all of these men were, we also
have to mention his universally admired ‘servant’, the technician Friedrich
Kirchenbauer whom Haber had ‘inherited’ from Le Blanc and whom Haber
described as “an unusual employee of special value”. It was thanks to
Kirchenbauer that many of the technical innovations of Haber’s group
functioned as intended. Clearly then, to make an impression within such an
elite group any newcomer would have to be quite exceptional.
Robert arrived at the T. H. Karlsruhe in the autumn of 1906, living
initially in a flat with Professor Bunte and his wife who—according to Robert
—was ‘very friendly’ and helpful towards him.
52 Although matriculating as an
unpaid guest instructor or ‘Hospitant’—a special status reserved for those
who had already graduated—no personal record for Robert remains at the
university nor is it possible to determine which lectures he gave (if any at all).
A search of the Generallandesarchiv
53 at Karlsruhe similarly provided no
information regarding his stay suggesting, unsurprisingly, that this ‘impecunious student’
54 never owned a property there. However, what does remain,
is his hand written entry (student no. 89) in the Hochschule register
55 for the
winter semester of 1906 showing that he eventually took up residence at
“Nowakanlage 13
IV
”
56 where he apparently remained for the duration. In the
same entry he declared his religion—one of few who bothered on that particular page—as ‘Protestant’ and his father’s occupation as a Doctor in
‘Medecine’. At Nowakanlage, Robert lived with a Professor Knorr. She had
two daughters and someone once asked his mother … was she not afraid of
her son living there? She apparently replied, ‘Not at all … you haven’t seen
them!’
52 (Plate 2.5).
Karlsruhe at the time of Robert’s arrival was a city of about 100,000 souls
built around the magnificent Karlsruhe ‘Schloss’, (palace) which dated back to
1715. The Schloss sat in the centre of large circular grounds—the
Schlossgarten—and from it emanated 32 roads like the spokes of a wheel.
68
D. Sheppard
hydrogenating coal under high pressure it was to Karlsruhe he came, (1908)
1
working under Haber for one semester in Haber’s personal laboratory. This
work led to the original coal-to-oil conversion preceding the better-known
Fischer-Tropsch process—which eventually saw him achieve the Nobel Prize
in 1931 (jointly with Carl Bosch). Haber and Zsygmunt Klemensiewiscz were
to invent the glass electrode in 1909 and J. E. Coates was to become Professor
of Chemistry at University College Swansea in 1920. Paul Krassa—a distant
relative of Haber’s wife—was eventually appointed as Professor of Physical
Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Santiago Chile, and
Hermann Staudinger a pioneer of macromolecular chemistry went on to
receive the Nobel Prize in 1953. But capable as all of these men were, we also
have to mention his universally admired ‘servant’, the technician Friedrich
Kirchenbauer whom Haber had ‘inherited’ from Le Blanc and whom Haber
described as “an unusual employee of special value”. It was thanks to
Kirchenbauer that many of the technical innovations of Haber’s group
functioned as intended. Clearly then, to make an impression within such an
elite group any newcomer would have to be quite exceptional.
Robert arrived at the T. H. Karlsruhe in the autumn of 1906, living
initially in a flat with Professor Bunte and his wife who—according to Robert
—was ‘very friendly’ and helpful towards him.
52 Although matriculating as an
unpaid guest instructor or ‘Hospitant’—a special status reserved for those
who had already graduated—no personal record for Robert remains at the
university nor is it possible to determine which lectures he gave (if any at all).
A search of the Generallandesarchiv
53 at Karlsruhe similarly provided no
information regarding his stay suggesting, unsurprisingly, that this ‘impecunious student’
54 never owned a property there. However, what does remain,
is his hand written entry (student no. 89) in the Hochschule register
55 for the
winter semester of 1906 showing that he eventually took up residence at
“Nowakanlage 13
IV
”
56 where he apparently remained for the duration. In the
same entry he declared his religion—one of few who bothered on that particular page—as ‘Protestant’ and his father’s occupation as a Doctor in
‘Medecine’. At Nowakanlage, Robert lived with a Professor Knorr. She had
two daughters and someone once asked his mother … was she not afraid of
her son living there? She apparently replied, ‘Not at all … you haven’t seen
them!’
52 (Plate 2.5).
Karlsruhe at the time of Robert’s arrival was a city of about 100,000 souls
built around the magnificent Karlsruhe ‘Schloss’, (palace) which dated back to
1715. The Schloss sat in the centre of large circular grounds—the
Schlossgarten—and from it emanated 32 roads like the spokes of a wheel.
68
D. Sheppard