August Oetker

German inventor, food scientist and businessman (1862–1918)

August Oetker

Born| January 6, 1862

Obernkirchen, Schaumburg, Electorate of Hesse

Died| January 10, 1918 (1918-01-11) (aged 56)

Bielefeld, Westphalia, Germany

Occupations|

* Food scientist
* businessman

Relatives| Rudolf August Oetker (grandson)
Family| Oetker family

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] He was the patriarch of the Oetker family.

## Biography

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### Early life

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Oetker was born on January 6, 1862, in Obernkirchen, Electorate of Hesse, the oldest of eight children, to August Adolph Oetker (1834–1890) and Bertha Oetker (née Westphal; 1836–1902). He completed a doctoral thesis on the shape of pollen grains in 1888.[2]

### Career

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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

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The 1903 patent

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

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* 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

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1. ^ Huggler, Justin (July 30, 2021). "Dr Oetker frozen pizza empire sliced up between warring heirs" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
2. ^ de Klerk, Pim (2018). "the road to Lennart von Post". Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. 27 (2): 393–409.

## External links

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* Works by August Oetker at Project Gutenberg

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Italy
* Czech Republic
* Netherlands
* Poland
* Israel

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB