Julius Neubronner

Julius Gustav Neubronner (8 February 1852 – 17

April 1932) was a German apothecary, inventor, Julius Neubronner
company founder, and a pioneer of amateur
photography and film. He was part of a dynasty of
apothecaries in Kronberg im Taunus. Neubronner was
court apothecary to Kaiserin Friedrich, invented the
pigeon photographer method for aerial photography,
was one of the first film amateurs in Germany, and
founded a factory for adhesive tapes. After his death,
the company was directed for 70 years by his son Carl
Neubronner (13 January 1896 – 19 November 1997).

Neubronner in 1914

Father and grandfather Born Julius Gustav Neubronner

8 February 1852
The Neubronner family was resident in Kronberg as an Kronberg im Taunus, Duchy of
apothecaries' family since Christian Neubronner had Nassau
taken over a pharmacy there in 1808. In 1844 the Died 17 April 1932 (aged 80)
pharmacy passed to his son Sohn Wilhelm Georg Occupation(s) Apothecary, inventor
Neubronner (1813–1894),[1] a longtime friend of
painter Anton Burger and father of Julius
Neubronner.[2] During the Revolution of 1848 he directed the local militia.[3] The wife of Wilhelm
Neubronner and mother of Julius Neubronner came from the Löwe dynasty of actors, and her sister was
the singer Sophie Löwe.[4]

Adolescence
From adolescence, Julius Neubronner was a passionate amateur photographer. In 1865 he found a camera
for the Talbot system which his father had built on his own shortly after the invention of photography. All
experiments with the obsolete camera failed, and together with a friend the boy secretly bought another
camera on credit.[5]

Neubronner initially received his education at home, together with two sisters. His godfather Julius Löwe
operated a chemical laboratory in Frankfurt, and from 1864 the now twelve-year-old boy attended the
Gymnasium in that city. After three years he changed to Weilburg, where he received the mittlere Reife.
After a year of apprenticeship in his father's pharmacy he attended the Royal Realgymnasium in
Wiesbaden.[4] He fulfilled his military duties at least partially in the Province of Hanover. In 1873 he
finished his apprenticeship as apothecary's assistant in a pharmacy in Berlin, followed by three practical
years in pharmacies in Bendorf, Frankfurt, Hannoversch-Münden and Nyon.[4] In Nyon he got into
contact with stereoscopy.[5]
 From 1876, Neubronner studied pharmacy in Gießen, where he joined the
Akademisch-Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein (now a Burschenschaft).[6]
Shortly after his pharmaceutical examination in 1877, he began to study
chemistry in Berlin in 1878, but soon switched to Heidelberg, where he
received his doctorate in 1879.[4][6]

Pharmacy and factory

In 1886,[4] Julius Neubronner took
over the pharmacy in Kronberg
from his father. In 1887 he bought
Julius Neubronner 1877
an important historical building
while studying in Gießen known as Streitkirche ('dispute
church'). Planned as a catholic
church in the Protestant town of
Kronberg, but never inaugurated, it had been the object of a
notable conflict.[7][8] After the necessary modifications (the
Streitkirche in Kronberg with
building had previously been used as an inn), family and
pharmacy
pharmacy could move into the building in 1891.[4]

When Emperor Frederick III died in the Year of the Three Emperors 1888 after only 99 days in office, his
widow Victoria, Princess Royal, known in Germany as Kaiserin Friedrich, had Schloss Friedrichshof
constructed as her new residence in the forest near Kronberg. Neubronner now obtained the rank of a
court apothecary.[9]

Wilhelm Neubronner had used pigeon post for fast delivery of prescriptions, but had stopped the practice
after a few years, when the neighbouring villages received their own pharmacies. Inspired by a
newspaper report in 1902 that described a similar practice of an apothecary in Boston and showed a lack
of awareness with his father's achievements, Julius Neubronner took up and expanded the practice. By
pigeon post he obtained urgent chemicals up to 75 grams (2.6 oz) from his wholesaler in Frankfurt and
delivered urgent medication to the sanatorium in Falkenstein (Königstein im Taunus)[5] The notable
sanatorium, founded in 1876 by Peter Dettweiler, was replaced by a recreation home for officers between
1907 und 1909.[10]

Between 1903 and 1920 Neubronner recorded a number of amateur films which were restored by the
Deutsches Filmmuseum between 1994 and 1996 and later published on YouTube.[11][12] The cumbersome
process of gluing glass photographs for laterna magica presentations inspired him to invent a form of
adhesive paper tape, which he patented. For production and marketing he founded the Fabrik für
Trockenklebematerial in 1905. Under the name Neubronner GmbH & Co. KG it still exists and has
around 80 employees.[5][13]

Private life and pigeon photography

In 1886, Julius Neubronner married Charlotte Stiebel (1865–
1924).[4] Her father Fritz Stiebel (1824–1902) was a well-known
physician in Frankfurt.[4][14] Her maternal grandfather was
Jacques Reiss (1807–1887), patron and honorary citizen of
Kronberg and main initiator of the Cronberger Eisenbahn-
Gesellschaft (Kronberg Railway Society).[15][16][17]

Like his father, Julius Neubronner was a friend and sponsor of a

Kronberg-based group of notable painters known as Kronberger
Malerkolonie, whose museum is now located on the first floor of
his house.[18] In 1907, he joined the Senckenberg Nature Research
Society[19]

In 1907, Neubronner submitted a patent for his invention of aerial

photography by means of a pigeon photographer;[20] he was
granted the patent in 1908.[21] The invention brought him Stadtmuseum Kronberg

international notability after he presented it to an interested

audience at international expositions in Dresden, Frankfurt and Paris in 1909–1911.[22] Spectators in
Dresden could watch the arrival of the camera-equipped carrier pigeons, and the photos were
immediately developed and turned into postcards which could be purchased.[5] At the 1910 and 1911
Paris Air Shows he received two gold medals, for the method and for the photographs.[4] The invention
was tried out for military air surveillance in the First World War and later, but apart from honourable
mentions in encyclopedias (Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Brockhaus Enzyklopädie) it only caused him
expenses.[5]

Successors
After Julius Neubronner's death in 1932, the pharmacy stayed in the Neubronner family for two more
generations. First it was managed by Wilhelm Neubronner, who wrote a book about Ice stock sport and
was generally active in local and national sports. With his death in 1972, his son Kurt-Heinz Neubronner
took over the pharmacy, but in 1995 it was sold.[23]

The factory was taken over by Julius Neubronner's youngest son Carl Neubronner (13 January 1896 – 19
November 1997), who managed it for 70 years. In 1957 he received the Federal Cross of Merit (1st
class), in 1966 he made the staff share the company's profits, and he was active in an industry
association.[17] Carl Neubronner became known for his experiments with model aircraft: At the age of 16
he developed the "Raketoplan", a rocket-propelled model airplane, and the national rocket model aircraft
club still awards an annual Carl Neubronner Prize.[24] In 1984 he became honorary citizen of
Kronberg.[25] Since 1987 the Carl Neubronner Sports Foundation supports sports in Kronberg. Carl
Neubronner was married to Erika Neubronner (1923–2005). In April 1997 they founded the socially
oriented Carl and Erika Neubronner Foundation.[23]

References
1. Deutsches Biographisches Archiv. 10. Kempinski Hotel Falkenstein feiert
Georg Hirth: Hirth's Parlaments-Almanach. kaiserliches Jubiläum, Kronberger Bote
Fünfte Ausgabe. 1867, S. 79. 6/2009.
2. Anton Burger 1824-1905: Ausstellung in 11. Schobert, Walter (November 1996), Early
der Streitkirche Kronberg (http://www.kronb amateur films by Julius Neubronner:
erger-maler.de/museum/burger2005.html), restored (http://www.fiafnet.org/pdf/uk/fiaf5
kronberger-maler.de. 3.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
3. Märzrevolution in Kronberg 1848 (http://ww b/20130121082237/http://www.fiafnet.org/p
w.kronberg.de/de/buerger/ueber-kronberg/ df/uk/fiaf53.pdf) 2013-01-21 at the
geschichte/maerzrevolution-in-kronberg.ht Wayback Machine, Journal of Film
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0100413214600/http://www.kronberg.de/d 12. Filme von Neubronner. (http://www.filmarch
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15. Teutonia und Alemannia. (http://www.kronb 20. DenHoed, Andrea (14 April 2018). "The
erg.de/de/buerger/ueber-kronberg/geschic Turn-of-the-Century Pigeons That
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External links
Julius Neubronner films (http://www.europeanfilmgateway.eu/node/33/julius%20neubronner/
multilingual:1/showOnly:video) on the European Film Gateway

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