Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs

Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs
Drawing of Fuchs, 1856 Drawing of Fuchs, 1856
Born	15 May 1774 Mattenzell, Germany
Died	5 March 1856 (aged 81) Munich
Monuments	Fuchsite
Alma mater	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU)
Occupations	Chemist, mineralogogist
Years active	1821-1852
Known for	Inventing mineral painting

Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs (15 May 1774 – 5 March 1856) was a German chemist and mineralogist, and royal Bavarian privy councillor.

Biography

He was born at Mattenzell, near Falkenstein in the Bavarian Forest. In 1807, he became professor of chemistry and mineralogy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), which was located in Landshut at the time, and in 1823 conservator of the mineralogical collections at Munich, where he was appointed professor of mineralogy three years later, when the university was relocated. He retired in 1852, was ennobled by the Maximilian II of Bavaria in 1854, and died in Munich on 5 March 1856.

He is largely known for his mineralogical observations and for his work on waterglass (sodium silicate). He used it to develop stereochromy, a kind of fresco painting where the pigments are fixed with waterglass. Historically, the substance was sometimes referred to as "Fuchs's soluble glass". Also, he developed a scientific method for the production of cement and made contributions to the understanding of the amorphic state of solids.

He coined the mineral names wagnerite (1821) and margarite (1823), and with Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen, was co-describer of the mineral mesolite (1816). A variety of muscovite called fuchsite commemorates his name.

Published works

• Über die Entstehung der Porzellan-Erde, 1821 [On the origin of porcelain earth]
• Neue Methode das Bier auf seine wesentlichen Bestandtheile zu untersuchen, 1836 [New method to research essential components of beer]
• Naturgeschichte des Mineralreichs, 1842 [Natural history of the mineral world]
• Über die Theorien der Erde, den Amorphismus fester Körper und den gegenseitigen Einfluß der Chemie und Mineralogie, 1844 [On theories in earth sciences, the amorphism of solid bodies and the mutual influence of chemistry and mineralogy]
• La stéréochromie: peinture monumentale, 1861 (French translation by Léon Dalemagne)

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs — A chemist and mineralogist, b. at Mattenzell, near Bremberg, Lower Bavaria, 15 May, 1774; d. at Munich, 5 March, 1856. He originally studied medicine, but after the year 1801 devoted himself to chemistry and mineralogy. Following the custom of his country, he pursued his studies at various universities: Heidelberg, Berlin, Freiburg, and Paris. In 1805 he taught chemistry and mineralogy at the University of Landshut, and at Munich in 1826. In 1823 he was nominated a member of the Academy of Sciences and in 1854 conservator of the Museum of Mineralogy of Munich; two years before his death, the honour of nobility was conferred upon him by the King of Bavaria. He received many other honours. His memoirs, which are numerous, and play an important part in the development of the sciences of mineralogy and chemistry, are given in the collections of the Munich Academy, in Kastner's "Archives", Poggendorff's "Annalen", Dingler's "Journal", and other publications.

He wrote several books, among others one "On the Present Influence of Chemistry and Mineralogy" (Munich, 1824); one on the "Theories of the Earth" (Munich, 1824); "Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom" (Kempten, 1842); and a work on the preparation, properties, and uses of soluble glass (Munich, 1857). His name is to this day associated with soluble glass, an alkaline silicate used in a special kind of fresco painting, called stereochromy, so much so that sometimes it is called Fuchs's soluble glass. Today soluble glass is also used in the application of bandages in surgery. His discovery of water glass was published in 1823. He pursued his researches in other departments of technical knowledge, his work on cement being particularly valuable. He retired from active life in 1852.

His collected works, produced by the committee of the central administration of the polytechnic union in the Kingdom of Bavaria, were edited, with is necrology, by Kaiser (Munich, 1856). His work included investigations on the replacement of one chemical group by another in minerals; the discovery of the amorphic state of several bodies, the artificial production of ultramarine and improvements in the dyeing industry, in the manufacture of beet-root sugar and in brewing. A variety of muscovite, containg nearly four per cent of chromium (chrome mica), is named "Fuchsite" after him. Fuchs, who owed his early education to Frauenzell and the suppressed Jesuits at Ratisbon, was throughout his life a practical and earnest Catholic.