Friedrich Oskar Giesel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Friedrich Oskar Giesel
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| Born | 20 May 1852 Winzig, Germany
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| Died | 13 November 1927 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | German |
| Known for | discovery of actinium |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | radiochemistry |
Friedrich Oskar Giesel (born May 20, 1852 – died November 13, 1927), often called Fritz, was a German chemist. He worked with organic chemistry, which studies carbon-based compounds. In the late 1890s, he started exploring a new area called radiochemistry. This field looks at radioactive elements. Giesel became known for producing radium and for discovering a new element he named emanium. This element was later confirmed to be the same as actinium, which had been found by André-Louis Debierne in 1899.
A Life of Discovery
Friedrich Giesel studied in Berlin and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen. He worked at a quinine factory in Braunschweig, Germany. Besides his factory job, Giesel was very interested in radiochemistry.
Soon after the discovery of polonium in 1898, Giesel began trying to get this new element. He used waste materials from uranium production at a chemical plant in Hanover. By March 1899, he showed the first radium to a chemical group in Braunschweig. He published his findings on radium by mid-1899.
Giesel found a better way to separate radium from barium. He used bromides instead of chlorides for a process called fractional crystallization. This method helps separate substances by letting them form crystals at different rates. He made large amounts of pure radium and polonium for people to use. Even famous scientists like William Ramsay and Frederick Soddy bought radium from Giesel's factory.
What I have since dubbed the Isenthal 'manna' was in fact the first consignment of pure radium compounds that Giesel of the Chinin Fabrik of Brunswick was putting on the market and the price I paid for it was about eight shillings a milligram of radium bromide (50 per cent pure radium).
Giesel also made an important improvement in how radioactive rays were seen. He used a material called Sidot's blende (zinc sulfide) instead of barium platinocyanide. This made it easier to observe the glowing effects of radiation.
Giesel did many experiments on himself with radioactive materials. He was one of the first to confirm that radioactive rays could harm skin. Because he worked with radioactive materials for a long time, parts of his right hand had to be removed. He later developed lung cancer and died from it in 1927. His name is on the Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations in Hamburg, Germany, which honors those who suffered from radiation exposure.
The Discovery of Emanium
Giesel found a new element while working with uraninite, also known as pitchblende. He separated a part of it that contained lanthanum and had special properties. After two years of study, he was sure he had found a new element and named it emanium.
He knew that André-Louis Debierne had discovered actinium in 1899. However, Debierne's early descriptions of actinium's properties were confusing. In 1899, Debierne said it was like titanium, and in 1900, he said it was like thorium. This made Giesel believe that emanium and actinium were different elements.
Later, other scientists like Otto Hahn compared emanium and actinium. They found that the two elements were actually the same. Debierne's name, actinium, was kept because he had discovered it first.
Giesel once wrote that the sample Debierne sent for comparison was a lanthanum part, just like what Giesel used. It was not the titanium or thorium parts Debierne had mentioned earlier. This situation never caused a big fight, but the history of actinium's discovery remained a bit unclear. Some studies from 1971 even suggested that Giesel might be the true discoverer of actinium.
However, many historians now agree that Debierne is the discoverer. Still, Giesel deserves credit for being the first to prepare very pure actinium. He also helped identify its atomic number, which is 89.
See also
In Spanish: Friedrich Giesel para niños
