Johann Conrad Dippel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johann Konrad Dippel (August 10, 1673 - April 25, 1734) was a German pietist theologian, alchemist and physician.
Contents |
[edit] Life
He was born at Castle Frankenstein near Darmstadt, and therefore once (at his school) the addendum Franckensteinensis and once (at his university) the addendum Franckensteina-Strataemontanus was used.
He studied theology, philosophy and alchemy at the University of Giessen, obtaining a master's degree in theology in 1693. He published many theological works under the name Christianus Democritus, and most of them are still preserved. From 1700-1702 he engaged in a bitter dispute with the Reformed Court Preacher Conrad Broeske in Offenbach, with whom he shared millenarian hopes for soon-coming renewal in Christendom. He accused Broeske of compromise and collusion with the authorities after Broeske refused to publish Dippel's "The Scourging Papacy of the Protestants" on the Offenbach press.
Dippel led an adventurous life, often getting into trouble because of his disputed opinions and his problems with managing money. At one point he was imprisoned for heresy. He created an animal oil known as Dippel's Oil which was supposed to be the equivalent to the alchemists' dream of the "elixir of life."
In 1704 in Berlin, he and the manufacturer Heinrich Diesbach used this oil instead of potassium carbonate in producing red dyes. To their surprise, they obtained a blue dye "Berliner Blau", also called "Preussisch Blau" or "Prussian blue". Together they founded a factory in Paris.
According to Stahl, he and the pigment maker Diesbach used potassium carbonate contaminated with this oil in producing red dyes. To their surprise, they obtained a blue pigment "Berliner Blau", also called "Preussisch Blau" or "Prussian blue".[1]
There are claims that during his stay at Castle Frankenstein, he practiced alchemy and anatomy. He was allegedly working with nitroglycerin, which led to the destruction of a tower at the Castle Frankenstein. But this seems to be a modern myth, for it is an anachronism. Nitroglycerin hadn't been discovered in Dippel's time. And although the history of the castle during Dippel's lifetime is well documented, the destruction of a tower - though surely a remarkable event - is nowhere mentioned.
Other rumours about Dippel appear to be modern inventions too. For example, that which said that he performed gruesome experiments with cadavers, attempting to transfer the soul of one cadaver into another. There is also no evidence to the rumour that he was driven out of town, when word of his activities reached the ears of the townspeople.
He died at Wittgenstein Castle near Bad Laasphe, probably from a stroke, though some contemporaries suspected poisoning.[2]
[edit] Connection to the novel Frankenstein
His connection to the Castle Frankenstein gave rise to the theory that he was a model for Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, though that idea remains controversial.
The local historian, Walter Scheele, believes that the legends told in the villages surrounding the castle were transmitted by Jacob Grimm to Mary Jane Clairmont, translator of Grimm's fairy tales and stepmother of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Scheele also claims that in 1814 Mary, her half-sister Claire Clairmont and Percy Bysshe Shelley are said to have visited Castle Frankenstein, on their way to Lake Geneva. Other historians, whether their field of research is Grimm, Shelley, or the Castle Frankenstein, do not see any evidence for this.
Scheele's claimed letter of Grimm is nowhere to be found. And no evidence can be found that Clairmont was considered as the translator for Grimm's Fairy Tales[3].
The character Dippel, in the The Frankenstein Murders (ISBN 9781897151167), a Science fiction book written by Kathlyn Bradshaw and published by Cormorant Books, is based on the theoretical connection to Mary Shelley's original work. He is portrayed as being an assistant to Victor Frankenstein.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Stahl, Georg Ernst: Experimenta, Observationes, Animadversiones, CCC Numero, Chymicae et Physicae, Berlin 1731, 281-283.
- ^ E. E. AYNSLEY and W. A. CAMPBELL JOHANN KONRAD DIPPEL, 1673-1734
- ^ http://www.renegadenation.de/darmstadt/frankensteinengl.html Frankenstein Castle, Shelley and the Construction of a Myth
- ^ Bradshaw, Kathlyn. The Frankenstein Murders. Cormorant Books. 2008. pp 199
- This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
- Douglas H. Shantz: Between Sardis and Philadelphia. The Life and World of Pietist Court Preacher Conrad Broeske. Leiden 2008. Chapter 8, Feud with Johann Konrad Dippel, pp. 187-219.
[edit] External links
- Dippel, Johann Conrad (New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge)
- Biography
- “Frankenstein was not just a figment of author’s imagination.”
