August Oetker
August Oetker | |
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| Born | January 6, 1862 |
| Died | January 10, 1918 (aged 56) Bielefeld, Westphalia, Germany |
| Occupation | Food scientist/ businessman |
| Relatives | Rudolf August Oetker (grandson) |
August Oetker (German pronunciation: [ˈaʊɡʊst ˈʔœtkɐ]; January 6, 1862 – January 10, 1918) was a German inventor, food scientist and business person. He is known as the creator of baking powder as a ready-to-use product, and also as the founder of the Dr. Oetker company.[1]
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Oetker was born on January 6, 1862, in Obernkirchen, Electorate of Hesse. He completed a doctoral thesis on the shape of pollen grains in 1888.[2]
Career[edit]
In 1891, he bought the Aschoffsche pharmacy in Bielefeld and developed a baking agent, which was designed to ensure the success of the baking process. Prior to Oetker, a British chemist, Alfred Bird, had already invented baking powder, and American scientist Eben Norton Horsford had developed a ready-made 'double-acting' baking powder.
From 1890, he distributed his invention under the brand name Backin, thus laying the basis for the family-owned company, called Oetker-Gruppe. The company still uses the very same recipe to produce baking powder. On September 21, 1909, Oetker filed a patent for his Procedure for making long-lasting baking powder or ready-to-bake flour.
Due to successful marketing, his products sold quite well and soon the old pharmacy had turned into a successful company. In 1900, Oetker built his first manufacturing plant and, by 1906, had sold 50 million packages of Backin.
Death and legacy[edit]
Oetker died on January 10, 1918, in Bielefeld, Germany. Later, his grandson, Rudolf August Oetker, took over the company.
Motto: Ein heller Kopf verwendet stets Oetker. ("A bright mind always uses Oetker.").
See also[edit]
- Oetker Collection
- Alfred Bird, inventor of Bird's custard and also the first baking powder in 1843
- Henry Jones, a Bristol baker who patented self-raising flour in 1845, as a means of providing fresh bread on ships.
References[edit]
- ^ Huggler, Justin (July 30, 2021). "Dr Oetker frozen pizza empire sliced up between warring heirs" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^ de Klerk, Pim (2018). "the road to Lennart von Post". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 27 (2): 393–409 – via JSTOR.
External links[edit]
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