Otto Ruff (1871-1939)
Head of Department of Inorganic Chemistry, 1904-1916
Born Dec. 12, 1871 in Schwabisch Hall, died Sept. 17, 1939 in Wrocław (Breslau). After finishing the humanistic high school in Hall, in 1889-91 he was trained in Stuttgart as pharmacist under supervision of the Court Counsellor Vogelen who was one of the first pharmacists in that time. Later, in 1891-1894 O. Ruff was working as pharmacist trainee in Cuvet (French Switzerland), Hamburg, Berlin and London. In 1894-1897 he studied chemistry at the Berlin University where he associated with Emil Fischer Laboratory. In 1896 he passed the state examination and became entitled pharmacist and in 1897 he received his philosophy doctor's degree at the Berlin University (under the direction of Oskar Piloty, former student and co-worker of E. Fischer). Since his sophomore year O. Ruff was a volunteer in Fischer laboratory and then a younger assistant. His duty was to supervise the Department of Analytical and Inorganic Chemistry because of lack of inorganic chemists at that time. After receiving his doctor's degree O. Ruff became full-time assistant and collaborated with E. Fischer who granted him a significant independence. In 1901 O. Ruff completed his habilitation work titled “Synthesis of sugars: novel method of aldoses degradation”.
Ruff's method of aldoses degradation was the significant contribution to research on sugars conducted by E. Fischer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1902. The habilitation work of O. Ruff was published as textbook for chemistry students. After his habilitation he was promoted to senior assistant position.
The persistent lack of inorganic chemists at European universities was the reason why E. Fischer decided to send his two outstanding alumni to perfect their inorganic chemistry knowledge: Alfred Stock went to Moissan Laboratory in Paris and Otto Ruff went to Ostwald Laboratory in Leipzig. After that training, in 1903 O. Ruff was promoted to associate professor position and supervisor of Department of Chemistry at Berlin University.
In 1902-1904 O. Ruff collaborated with Albert Carsten, the chief architect of chemistry buildings at the new Technical University in Gdansk. O. Ruff designed the interior and fundamental equipment of Chemistry Building. In 1904-1916, as full professor, he was head of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry and was dean of the Chemical Faculty in years 1906/07, 1908/09, 1911/12, 1913/14, 1914/15 and 1915/16.
In 1916 O. Ruff left Gdansk and moved to Wroclaw where he was full professor until 1939 and from 1933 he kept the same position in the Department of Philosophy at the Fryderyk Wilhelm Silesian University. He decided to leave Gdansk because of persistent shortage of energy supply and electric power in the Chemistry Building what made his research impossible. While leaving Gdansk he recommended Hans von Wartenberg from Berlin for his position. During his stay in Wroclaw O.Ruff collaborated intensively with Silesian industry and was longtime chairman of the Silesian Branch of German Chemists Association and in 1933-35 he was vice-chairman of German Chemical Society.
Scientific achievements of O. Ruff are both enormous and diverse. He published 290 papers and two books [1]. During his stay in Berlin he published 35 papers, in Gdansk – 95 papers and in Wroclaw – 162 papers. The most efficient year was 1911 when he published 19 original papers. Most of his published papers appeared in: Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie (113), Chemische Berichte (82), Angewandte Chemie (18), Zeitschrift für Elektrochemie (14). His main research interests were: organic chemistry of sugars (17), inorganic chemistry of fluorine (86), high temperature chemistry (44), electrolysis of molten salts (9), plastics (10), carbides (20), carbon allotropes (20), CO2 explosions in mines (7), other fields of inorganic chemistry (72). Ruff's book “The Chemistry of Fluorine” was published in 1920 by Springer Verlag in Berlin. After Moissan's death (1907) O. Ruff was worldwide recognized as an authority in chemistry of fluorine and high temperature chemistry. The way how Moissan and Ruff conducted their research was similar as well as their mentality. The second Ruff's book was titled “Introduction to Chemical Practicum” (Leipzig 1926, II ed. 1937). O. Ruff was enthusiastic and gifted experimentator. His professional activity resulted from curiosity and his hunger for knowledge and achievements in chemistry.
Honours: Liebig Medal, Military Cross of Merit, honorary doctorate of Dresden Technical University for “versatile and effective research in chemistry”, memberships of the Academy of Science in Halle and Madrid and membership of the Scientific Society in Göttingen.
Special events and interesting facts:
Beside Arrhenius (1859-1927, Nobel Prize 1903), Moissan (1852-1907, Nobel Prize 1906) and Werner (1866-1919, Nobel Prize 1913) O. Ruff was regarded as creator of renaissance of inorganic chemistry in first two decades of XX century. It was amazing that having significant achievements in organic chemistry O. Ruff allowed himself to be switched to inorganic chemistry under the influence of E. Fischer who was the highest authority for him.
During Ruff"s stay in Gdansk three interesting facts were worthwhile:
- His collaboration with A. Carsten regarding the interior design and basic equipment of the Chemistry Building. His article [2] from 1905 included detailed descriptions of all arrangements, furniture and apparatus, design of all three storeys, the use of all rooms and facilities. The photo of functional demonstration table in the Chemistry Auditorium was also included.
- O. Ruff delivered invited lectures for Gdansk Nature Society and published 7 papers in its journal.
- O. Ruff wrote also technological studies on production of high temperature resistant ceramic vessels made of East Prussia clays. Some of these products were presented at Ceramics Exhibition in Olsztyn and were prized with gold medal.
There was an interesting finding in the records of Wroclaw University archives: the album of Faculty of Philosophy with the hand-written biographies of professors. Despite the fact that documents were written in Gothic what made them difficult to read, the Ruff's biography shed some light on his personality.
The scientific achievements of O. Ruff were described in many chemistry textbooks, especially his works on synthesis and properties of fluorides e.g. AgF2.
The organic chemistry books (e.g. Nenitescu, Morrisson & Boyd) quote the “Ruff's Reaction” which has many useful applications in synthesis and configuration correlations of aldoses. This reaction is also mentioned on organic chemistry website.
Obtained and tested by O. Ruff the uranium hexafluoride UF6 turned to be very crucial for XX century civilization. Its extremely high volatility (b.p. 57°C) was used for separation of 235U and 238U isotopes. This method was very essential for the construction of first atomic bombs within the Manhattan Project in 1945 [3].
O. Ruff had a nickname the molecules pastor given to him by the students. It was due to his lectures structure and a very inspired way of giving the speech what reminded the typical preaching. The nickname wandered with him from Gdansk to Wroclaw. Moreover, it is known from Ruff's lineage that there were few pastors in his mother's family.
Sources: Walter Huckel [1], Wilhelm Klemm [4], Otto Ruff [5] and other sources [6].
References
- W. Hückel: Berichte 72 (1940) 125
- O. Ruff: Chemiker Zeitung 9 (1905) 99
- W. Mizerski: Kurier Chemiczny 4 (1995) 28
- W. Klemm: Angew. Chem. 53 (1940) 25
- O. Ruff: Chemiker Zeitung 61 (1937) 6
- Collaborative work: Technische Hochschule in Danzig, Festschrift zur Eröffnung, 6. Oktober 1904
Authors: Teresa Sokołowska and Wiesław Wojnowski
English version: Stanisław Konieczny
