Max Joseph von Pettenkofer

Who was Max Joseph von Pettenkofer?

Max Joseph Pettenkofer, ennobled in 1883 as Max Joseph von Pettenkofer, Bavarian chemist and hygienist, was born in Lichtenheim, near Neuburg an der Donau, now part of Weichering. He was a nephew of Franz Xaver, who from 1823 was surgeon and apothecary to the Bavarian court and was the author of some chemical investigations on the vegetable alkaloids. He studied pharmacy and medicine at Munich, where he graduated M.D. in 1845 and after working under Liebig at Gießen was appointed chemist to the Munich mint in 1845. Two years later he was chosen extraordinary professor of chemistry in the medical faculty, in 1853 he was made a full professor, and in 1865 he became also professor of hygiene.

In his earlier years he devoted himself to chemistry, both theoretical and applied, publishing papers on the preparation of gold and platinum, numerical relations between the atomic weights of analogous elements, the formation of aventurine glass, the manufacture of illuminating gas from wood, the preservation of oil-paintings, among other things. The reaction known by his name for the detection of bile acids was published in 1844. In his widely used method for the quantitative determination of carbonic acid the gaseous mixture is shaken up with baryta or limewater of known strength and the change in alkalinity ascertained by means of oxalic acid. It was who provided the experimental proof that the mysterious haematinum of ancient times was in fact a copper-colored glass.