Johann August Natterer

Who is Johann August Natterer?

Johann August Natterer was an Austrian physician and chemist.

Born in Vienna, he was a nephew to naturalist Johann Natterer. In 1847 he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Vienna, later practicing medicine in Wien-Leopoldstadt.

Along with his brother Josef Natterer, he is remembered for pioneer experiments in the field of photography. In 1841, using a Voigtländer camera on daguerreotype plates that were prepared according to a chemical process developed by Franz Kratochwila, they were able to increase the sensitivity five-fold, and reportedly achieved exposure times as low as 5 to 6 seconds in clear weather.

In the mid-1840s, using a compressed air chamber pump invented by J. Schembor, he was the first scientist to produce liquid carbonic acid in significant quantities. His name is associated with a sealed and constant volume vessel known as a "Natterer's tube".