Friedrich Engelhorn

Friedrich was a man who built big things.

He first learned to work with gold. Later, he made gas to light up shops. He also found a way to make bright colors for clothes.

He started a large company called BASF. The company grew very fast. It even opened offices in far lands. He built a big factory in a place called Ludwigshafen. His work helped the company become very famous.

He was a very busy man.

Friedrich Engelhorn was a man who built big businesses.

He was born in Mannheim in 1821. First, he learned to be a goldsmith. This is a person who works with gold. Later, he helped make gas for lights. He saw a way to make bright colors from coal tar. Coal tar is a dark liquid left over from making gas.

In 1865, he helped start a large company. We call this company BASF. He wanted to build the factory in Mannheim. But the town council would not sell him the land. So, he went to the next town. He bought land in Ludwigshafen instead. The new company was a great success. It soon had more than 300 workers. BASF also did a lot of science. They found new ways to make dyes, which are colors for cloth.

The company grew to be very large. It opened offices in New York and other places. A tall building at BASF is named after him today.

Friedrich Engelhorn was a man who changed how we make things.

He was born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1821. His father was a head brewer and owned a pub. Engelhorn studied at a local school for four years. After that, he spent three years learning to be a goldsmith. He traveled to many cities like Munich and Paris as a worker. In 1847, he finally opened his own goldsmith shop. This early work helped him learn how to run a business.

Things changed for him during a revolution in 1848. His gold shop began to struggle because of the economy. To fix this, he started a gasworks with two partners. This business made bottled gas to light up workshops and pubs. He later managed a large public gasworks in Mannheim. In 1856, a man named William Henry Perkin found a way to make dyes.

Engelhorn saw that he could use coal tar to make these colors. He started a small factory to make dyes from that material.

On April 6, 1865, Engelhorn helped found a new company. It was called the Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik, or BASF. He wanted to build the factory in Mannheim. However, the town council refused to sell him the land. The very next day, he went to the town of Ludwigshafen. He bought land there to build his new venture. This choice helped the company become a huge success. Within two years, the factory had more than 300 workers.

BASF grew into a very large company very quickly. In 1873, they opened a sales office in New York. They also opened sites in Russia and France. The company always focused on science and research. In 1868, they hired a chemist named Heinrich Caro.

He worked with other scientists to find a new dye called alizarin. They even got patents for this discovery in England and France. This made the company a leader in the chemical world.

Engelhorn stayed busy with many different businesses in his life. He bought a medical firm called Boehringer und Söhne in 1883. He also served on the boards of other large companies. He left his role at BASF in 1885 after some arguments. Engelhorn died in Mannheim on March 11, 1902. Today, people still remember his name in the industry. A tall, 101-meter building at the BASF site is named after him.

Friedrich Engelhorn was a German industrialist who played a major role in the history of chemistry.

He is most famous for being a founder of BASF. This company stands for Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik. His work helped turn chemical research into a massive global industry. Through his business decisions, he helped connect scientific discovery to large-scale manufacturing. His legacy continues through the massive chemical plants that exist today.

Engelhorn was born on July 17, 1821, in Mannheim, Germany. His father worked as a head brewer and owned a pub. After attending a local lyceum for four years, Engelhorn began a three-year apprenticeship. He trained to become a professional goldsmith. As a wandering journeyman, he traveled through many cities. These included Mainz, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Geneva, Lyon, and Paris. In 1847, he returned to Mannheim to open his own goldsmith shop.

Economic changes during the 1848 revolution caused his goldsmith business to decline. To adapt, Engelhorn partnered with two others to establish a private gasworks in the summer of 1848. This facility produced bottled gas used for lighting workshops and pubs. Because of his success with gas manufacture, he was appointed to build a new public gasworks in Mannheim in 1851. He managed this public works after it began operating in December of that year. This experience with coal-based products prepared him for the chemical industry.

In 1856, a scientist named William Henry Perkin discovered a way to create synthetic organic dyes. Perkin used aniline, which is a substance found in coal tar distillate. Engelhorn realized that the coal tar from his gasworks could be used for this purpose. He saw a business opportunity in this scientific breakthrough. He started a small factory to produce aniline and dyestuffs near the Mannheim gasworks. By 1861, this factory began producing a dye called fuchsin.

On April 6, 1865, Engelhorn and several partners founded BASF to expand their chemical work.

The group initially tried to buy land in Mannheim for the new factory. However, the Mannheim town council refused to sell the land to them. Engelhorn, acting as the commercial director, went to the neighboring town of Ludwigshafen the very next day. He purchased ground there instead. This decision allowed the company to grow rapidly. Within just two years, BASF employed more than 300 workers.

BASF quickly became a multinational corporation through expansion. In 1873, the company established a sales office in New York. In 1876, they opened a production site in Butirki, near Moscow. By 1878, they had taken over a French factory in Neuville-sur-Saône. The company also prioritized chemical research from the beginning. In 1868, Engelhorn appointed Heinrich Caro as the first head of the company laboratory.

Caro worked with professors Carl Graebe and Carl Liebermann from Berlin University. Together, they discovered the synthetic dyestuff alizarin. This discovery was patented in Prussia, France, and England in 1869.

Engelhorn’s later years involved managing several different business interests. In 1883, he purchased the medical firm Boehringer und Söhne in Mannheim. His oldest son became the head of that factory in the same year. Engelhorn also served on the supervisory boards of other companies, such as the Deutsche Zelluloidfabrik in Saxonia. Following disagreements with his partners, he moved to the supervisory board of BASF in 1884. He officially left the company one year later. Engelhorn died in Mannheim on March 11, 1902.

Today, the impact of Engelhorn's career is visible in the modern landscape of the chemical industry.

In 1957, a prominent building at the BASF site was named in his honor. This commercial department is a high-rise that stands 101 meters tall. It serves as a major landmark at the Ludwigshafen site. His life shows how an individual can bridge the gap between small trades and global scientific enterprise.