Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden
Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden (23 March 1752 – 3 July 1815) was a German pioneer in mining and metallurgy. He was born in Hamelin in the Electorate of Hanover and died in Michelsdorf in Prussian Silesia.
[edit] Life
Reden came from the noble family of Reden (nobility): mining was hereditary. He was the nephew of the Hanover's mountain captain Claus Friedrich von Reden as well as the reformer of the Prussian Mining and Metallurgy, Friedrich Anton von Heynitz. His cousin was the lead American mountain captain Friedrich Otto Burchard von Reden.
Reden in 1768 began an internship at various mines of the Oberharz. Between 1770 and 1773 Reden studied in Göttingen and Halle (Saale). After passing the state exams as an administrative officer, he traveled through Holland, England and France, to local mines and metallurgical plants. At the Bergakademie Freiberg, he took a degree in mineralogy and geology from Abraham Gottlob Werner. In 1777, he entered the Hanoverian civil service, and was soon appointed by Friedrich Anton von Heynitz to Berlin, in the Department of Mines.
In the late 18th century, Reden played an important role in the development of industry in Silesia. For example, on Reden's initiative, in 1787 one of the first steam-powered pumps in continental Europe was installed in a Tarnowitz (Tarnowskie Góry) ore mine. Together with John Baildon, Reden was responsible for the introduction of coke into modern steelmaking process in Europe (in Gleiwitz (Gliwice), 1796, and, on a large scale, in Königshütte (Chorzów), 1802).
Reden was knighted by Friedrich Wilhelm II. Following the Napoleonic occupation of Prussia, he remained in office as the Minister of Mines to prevent the plundering of the mines by the French. Because of speeches on 9 November 1806, on the French occupying power, he was sacked from his ministry by Frederick William III, on 9 July 1807.
In the evening of his life, Reden retired to the Hirschberger Tal (Kotlina Jeleniogórska), at the well situated Buchwald (Bukowiec), which he had acquired in 1785. In 1802, he married Friederike Riedesel, Freiin zu Eisenbach, (de:Friederike von Reden) daughter of Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, and Frederika Charlotte Riedesel, but the marriage remained childless.
There is a recently-rebuilt monument to von Reden in Chorzów (German: Königshütte). This monument has a turbulent history having been erected and demolished several times with the changing political winds in Silesia. On 4 June 1935, the Society of German metalworks and miners donated the Reden medal, on the 25th Anniversary of the Wrocław University of Technology, as an award for excellent dissertations from mining and metallurgical engineers. This award is given since 1948, by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, Raw Material and Environmental Technology.
[edit] Literature
- Alexander Reden:History on the Family "von Reden". Wagner, Innsbruck 1893 (digital)
- Zbigniew Kapała (eds):Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden i jego czasy. Muzeum w Chorzowie, Chorzów 2002, ISBN 83-913421-7-4 (FW von Reden and his time)
- Władysław Niemierowski:Frederic Reden, 1752-1815. Muzeum Śląskie, Katowice 1988, ISBN 83-85039-25-2
- Slip-Olaf Schmidt (eds):Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Reden, 1752-1815. Contributions to the early industrialization in Upper Silesia and the Ruhr. LWL Industrial Museum, Dortmund, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-931-8
[edit] External links
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