chemistry

Otto Röhm

Otto Röhm is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Otto Röhm rather than just read about it. In short: Otto Karl Julius Röhm (German: [ʁøːm]; 14 March 1876, Öhringen, Germany – 17 September 1939, Berlin) was one of the founders and a longtime president of the Röhm und Haas chemical company which became later in the USA the Rohm and Haas (today Dow Chemical) and in Germany the Röhm GmbH (today Evonik Degussa). Life After completion of an apprenticeship as pharmacy assistant he started to study pharmacy at the universi…

Key takeaways

Otto Röhm belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Otto Röhm to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Otto Röhm from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Otto Karl Julius Röhm (German: [ʁøːm]; 14 March 1876, Öhringen, Germany – 17 September 1939, Berlin) was one of the founders and a longtime president of the Röhm und Haas chemical company which became later in the USA the Rohm and Haas (today Dow Chemical) and in Germany the Röhm GmbH (today Evonik Degussa).

Life After completion of an apprenticeship as pharmacy assistant he started to study pharmacy at the universities of Munich and Tübingen. As a graduated apothecary he completed his studies in 1901 at Tübingen with a dissertation in chemistry on "Polymerisation products of the acrylic acid". He is named in over 70 patents as inventor or co-inventor. When he died in 1939, his company Röhm GmbH employed 1800 workers and the annual revenues exceeded 22 million Reichsmark. His name is carried by several streets and other public places in Darmstadt, Weiterstadt and Worms.

Career After the university he started as a researcher at the Merck company, later he worked for the Stuttgart city gasworks. Here Otto Röhm focused on the processing of leather. He discovered an enzymatic leather staining process. This led to a substitute (brand name Oropon) for the fermented dog dung which was formerly used for bating leather (part of the tanning process). In 1907 he founded the company Röhm & Haas together with the businessman Otto Haas in Esslingen, Germany. Very soon, Otto Haas expanded the business to the USA, in 1909 he founded the first oversea subsidiary in Philadelphia. At the same time in Germany Röhm moved the company to Darmstadt where a larger plant was set up being closer to the leather industry of the Rhein-Main Region.

Science Otto Röhm was the first chemist who isolated and applied enzymes in technical applications. This led to a revolution in the production and in the use of washing detergents around 1914. In 1920 he introduced enzymes in the pharmaceutical industry and 1934 in the food industry, first application here was the clarifying of fruit juices. Additionally, the development of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) contributed to his economical success. In 1933 he patented and registered the brand PLEXIGLAS (PLEXIGLASS for the international markets).

External links Webseite of the Evonik Degussa / Röhm GmbH - Company History Webseite of the Evonik Degussa / Röhm GmbH - Otto Röhm

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Otto Röhm

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Otto Röhm claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Otto Röhm before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Otto Röhm ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Otto Röhm

In research: Otto Röhm appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Otto Röhm in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Otto Röhm is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1876 births, 1939 deaths, 20th-century German inventors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Otto Röhm outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Otto Röhm” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Otto Röhm in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Otto Röhm means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Otto Röhm out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Otto Röhm in simple terms?

Why does Otto Röhm matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Otto Röhm?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Otto Röhm.