Richard Adolf Zsigmondy

Richard Adolf Zsigmondy
Born	1 April 1865(1865-04-01) Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Died	23 September 1929(1929-09-23) (aged 64) Göttingen, Germany
Nationality	Austria
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	University of Vienna Technical University of Vienna University of Munich University of Graz University of Göttingen
Alma mater	Technical University of Vienna University of Munich
Doctoral advisor	Wilhelm von Miller
Influenced	August Kundt
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1925)

Richard Adolf Zsigmondy (1 April 1865 – 23 September 1929) was an Austrian-Hungarian chemist and Nobel laureate for chemistry known for his research in colloids. The crater Zsigmondy on the Moon is named in his honour.

Biography

Early years

Zsigmondy was born in Vienna, Austrian Empire to Hungarian parents Irma Szakmáry, a poet born in Martonvásár and Adolf Zsigmondy Sr., born in Bratislava, who had been a scientist and had invented surgical instruments in the field of dentistry. The Zsigmondy family, who was Lutheran, can trace back its origin to Johannes (hung. János) Sigmondi (1686–1746, Bártfa, Kingdom of Hungary) included many teachers, priests and Hungarian freedom-fighters. Richárd was raised by his mother after his father's early death in 1880, and received a comprehensive education. He enjoyed hobbies such as climbing and mountaineering with his siblings. His brother Karl Zsigmondy became a notable mathematician in Vienna. In high school he developed an interest in natural science, especially in chemistry and physics, and experimented in his home laboratory.

His academic career began at the University of Vienna Medical Faculty, but soon moved on to the Technical University of Vienna and later to the University of Munich in order to study chemistry. In Munich his teacher was Wilhelm von Miller (1848–1899), where he started his scientific career by concluding research on indene and receiving his Ph.D. in 1889.

Career

Aqueous colloidal gold.

Zsigmondy left organic chemistry and joined the physics group of August Kundt at the University of Berlin and finished his habilitation at the University of Graz in 1893. Because of his knowledge about glass and its colouring in 1897 the Schott Glass factory offered him a job which he accepted. He invented the Jenaer Milchglas and conducted some research on the red Ruby glass.

Zsigmondy left Schott Glass in 1900 but remained in Jena as private lecturer to conduct his research. Together with the optical instrument manufacturer Zeiss, he developed the slit ultramicroscope. His scientific career continued in 1908 at the University of Göttingen as professor of inorganic chemistry, where he remained the rest of his professional career. In 1925 Zsigmondy received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on colloids.

Before Zsigmondy finished his PhD thesis in organic chemistry, he published research on colouring glass with silver salts and dissolved silver particles, which he recovered by dissolving the glass in hydrofluoric acid.

Vintage cranberry glass bowl

During his work in Graz Zsigmondy accomplished his most notable research work, the work on the chemistry of colloids (a certain coloured glass). The exact mechanism which yields the red colour of the Cranberry or Ruby glass was a result of his studies of colloids. In later years he worked on gold hydrosol and used them to characterize protein solutions. While in Jena he developed the slit ultramicroscope.

Private life

Zsigmondy was married in 1903 Laura Luise Müller with whom he had two daughters, Annemarie and Käthe. He died a few years after retirement in 1929 in Göttingen, Germany.

He was a cousin of the architect Frigyes Schulek, whose mother was Auguszta Zsigmondy. He is also related to the violinist Dénes Zsigmondy.

Ancestry

Zsigmondy

Richard Zsigmondy, Vienna (A) 1862–Göttingen (D) 1929 scientist, Nobel Prize Winner in chemistry 1925	Father: Adolf Zsigmondy Pressburg/ Pozsony, (HUN) 1816– Vienna (A) 1880	Grandfather: Sámuel Zsigmondy Pilis, (HUN) 1788– 1833 Pressburg/ Pozsony (HUN)	Great-grandfather: G. Zsigmondy Körmöcbánya (HUN) 1748-Pilis (HUN) 1799)	Great-great-grandfather: J. Zsigmondy Bártfa (HUN) ca 1700 -Körmöcbánya(HUN) 1765)	Great-great-grandmother: Zsuzsanna Kossovits Besztercebánya (HUN) ? -Lónyabánya(HUN) 1790)
			Great-grandmother: Judit Polereczky Alberti (Now Albertirsa) (HUN) 1756– 1833 Pressburg/Pozsony (HUN)
		Grandmother: F. Fábry 1793 Pressburg/ Pozsony (HUN)– 1868 Pressburg/Pozsony (HUN)	grandmothers father: István Fábry Hrussó (HUN) 1751 – Pressburg/ Pozsony (HUN) 1817
			grandmothers mother: Terézia Bayer
	Mother: Irma von Szakmáry Mártonvásár (HUN) 1835 Vienna 1900	Mothers father: N.N. von Szakmáry (1818– 1888)	Mothers grandfather : N.N. von Szakmáry
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References

Családfa, Dr. Czeizel Endre,1992 Kossuth Könyvkiadó

Further reading

• J. Reitstötter (1966). "Richard Zsigmondy". Journal Colloid & Polymer Science 211 (1–2): 6–7. doi:10.1007/BF01500203. 
• "R. Zsigmondy (1865–1929)". Nature 206 (4980): 139. 1965. doi:10.1038/206139a0. 
• Lottermoser (1929). "Richard Zsigmondy zum Gedächtnis". Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie 42 (46): 1069–1070. doi:10.1002/ange.19290424602. 
• "Richard Zsigmondy zum 60. Geburtstage". Zeitschrift für Angewandte Chemie 38 (14): 289–289. 1925. doi:10.1002/ange.19250381402. 
• H. Freundlich (1930). "Richard Zsigmondy zum 60. Geburtstage". Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft 63 (11): A171–A175. doi:10.1002/cber.19300631144. 

External links

• Karl Grandin, ed. (1925). "Richard Adolf Zsigmondy Biography". Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Foundation. http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/1925/zsigmondy-bio.html. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
• "Richard Adolf Zsigmondy: Properties of Colloids". Nobel Lectures, Chemistry 1922-1941. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company. 1966. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1925/zsigmondy-lecture.html.