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Fig. 4.13
Portrait of Karl
Fischer (1901-1958).
Photo
Eugen Scholz, “Karl-Fischer-
Titration”, Springer-Verlag,
Berlin-Heidelberg-New
York-Tokio, 1984
His research activities were focused on petrol technology and paraffin analy-
sis. There is only one single publication from him, that on water determination
[
81
], which is now performed half a million times a day worldwide. Fischer had
to find a fast method to determine water in liquid sulphur dioxide which was the
reason for corrosion during the Edeleanu process. The Karl Fischer Titration is
based on the Bunsen reaction between iodine and sulphur dioxide in water. Karl
Fischer used this reaction in a non-aqueous solvent containing an excess of sul-
phur dioxide. Pyridine was used for neutralization of the acid formed in this reac-
tion, because “it was by chance on the shelf” [
82
]. The titration was originally
performed manually but has since been automated. It remains the primary method
of water content determination used worldwide by governments, academia and
industrial laboratories, including all major chemical manufacturers and petroleum
refiners [
83
]. The method is now in all pharmacopoeias. Fischer held many pat-
ents, but none about his titration.
Josef G
oubeau
(born 31 March 1901, Augsburg, died 18 October 1990, Stuttgart)
Josef Goubeau was son of a pharmacist. After high school in Augsburg, he
studied chemistry in Munich and earned his PhD (supervisor: Otto Hönigschmid)
in 1926 on the atomic weight of potassium. After 2 years as assistant in Munich,
Goubeau moved to Freiburg and worked on Zintl phases. In 1929, he became
an assistant at the
Bergakademie
(Academy of Mining, now TU) Clausthal and
worked on pseudohalogens. From 1930 on, he used Raman spectroscopy to study
bond properties of various inorganic and organic molecules. In 1932, Goubeau
first described analytical applications of Raman spectroscopy (isomeric impu-
rity of xylols [
84
]). In 1935, he accomplished his habilitation thesis on analytical
applications of Raman spectroscopy. He became known as pioneer in the appli-
cation of vibrational spectroscopy in chemistry (for portrait see Fig.
4.14
). Soon
he was invited to work at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen as staff assis-
tant (1937), Assistant Professor (1940) and Associate Professor (1943) [
85
]. In
addition to various molecular structures, he especially investigated the analytical
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