Fresenius, Remigius Heinrich

Chemist

born: 14.11.1847 in Wiesbaden

died: 14.02.1920 in Wiesbaden

Fresenius, the eldest son of chemist Carl Remigius Fresenius, began studying chemistry at his father's institute(Chemisches Laboratorium Fresenius) after graduating from the Humanistisches Gymnasium in Wiesbaden in 1866.

Due to the political upheavals of 1866 in the wake of the German-Austrian War, he had to interrupt his studies after three semesters in the fall of 1867. As a year-old, he did his military service with the 2nd Guards Dragoon Regiment in Berlin, where he also attended lectures in natural sciences and other subjects. He then continued his studies in Leipzig with the well-known organic chemist Carl Kolbe. After a further interruption due to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, during which he was made an officer and awarded the Iron Cross, he completed his studies in the spring of 1872 with a doctorate.

In the fall of 1872, Fresenius joined his father's laboratory, where he worked successfully as a lecturer until his death. In addition to his teaching activities, from 1871 onwards he was heavily involved in his father's journal Zeitschrift für Analytische Chemie. When an agrochemical and oenological testing station was added to the Fresenius laboratory in 1881, he took over its management. After the death of his father in 1897, he joined his brother Theodor Wilhelm Fresenius and his brother-in-law Ernst Hintz in the management of the laboratory.

Fresenius was a member of the city council in Wiesbaden (1897-1919) and the National Liberal Party, on the board of the trade association and the agricultural association. In 1905 he was appointed a privy councillor. For many years he was associated with the Nassau Association for Natural History, which he had joined in 1873. He was its director from 1913-20 and played a leading role in the construction of the new state museum in Wiesbaden.

Fresenius was buried in the South Cemetery.