Carl Remigius Fresenius

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Carl Remigius Fresenius (December 28, 1818 - June 11, 1897), German chemist, was born at Frankfurt. After spending some time in a pharmacy in his native town, he entered Bonn University in 1840, and a year later migrated to Gießen, where he acted as assistant in Liebig's laboratory, and in 1843 became assistant professor.

In 1845 he was appointed to the chair of chemistry, physics and technology at the Wiesbaden Agricultural Institution, and three years later he became the first director of the chemical laboratory which he induced the Nassau government to establish at that place. Under his care this laboratory continuously increased in size and popularity, a school of pharmacy being added in 1862 (though given up in 1877) and an agricultural research laboratory in 1868.

Apart from his administrative duties, Fresenius occupied himself almost exclusively with analytical chemistry, and the fullness and accuracy of his textbooks on that subject (of which that on qualitative analysis first appeared in 1841 and that on quantitative in 1846) soon rendered them standard works. Many of his original papers were published in the Zeitschrift für analytische Chemie, which he founded in 1862 and continued to edit until his death.

In 1881 he handed over the directorship of the agricultural research station to his son, Remigius Heinrich Fresenius, who was trained under H. Kolbe at Leipzig. Another son, Theodor Wilhelm Fresenius, was educated at Strasbourg and occupied various positions in the Wiesbaden laboratory.

He died suddenly at Wiesbaden on June 11, 1897.