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Jöns Jacob Berzelius 1 Jöns Jacob Berzelius

J. J. Berzelius Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848)

Born 20 August 1779 Väversunda, Östergötland,

Died 7 August 1848 (aged 68) , Sweden

Nationality Sweden

Fields

Institutions

Alma mater University

Doctoral advisor Johann Afzelius

Doctoral students James Finlay Weir Johnston Heinrich Rose

Known for Atomic weights Chemical notation Silicon Selenium Thorium Cerium

Notable awards Copley medal

Jöns Jacob Berzelius (Swedish: [jœns ˌjɑːkɔb bæɹˈseːliɵs]; 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. He worked out the modern technique of chemical notation, and is together with John Dalton, , and Robert Boyle considered a father of modern chemistry.[1] He began his career as a physician but his researches in physical chemistry were of lasting significance in the development of the subject. He achieved much in later life as secretary of the Swedish Academy. He is known in Sweden as the Father of Swedish Chemistry. Berzelius Day is celebrated on 20 August in honour of him[2].

Biography Born at Väversunda in Östergötland in Sweden, Berzelius lost both his parents at an early age. Relatives in Linköping took care of him, and there he attended the school today known as Katedralskolan. He then enrolled at Uppsala University where he learned the profession of medical doctor from 1796 to 1801; Anders Gustaf Ekeberg, the discoverer of tantalum, taught him chemistry. He worked as an apprentice in a pharmacy and with a physician in the Medevi springs. During this time he conducted analysis of the spring water. For his medical studies he examined the influence of galvanic current on several diseases and graduated as M.D. in 1802. He worked as physician near Stockholm until the mine-owner Wilhelm Hisinger discovered his analytical abilities and provided him with a laboratory. Between 1808 and 1836, Berzelius worked together with Anna Sundström, who acted as his assistant[3] In 1807 Berzelius was appointed professor in chemistry and pharmacy at the Karolinska Institute. In 1808, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. At this time, the Academy had been stagnating for a number of years, since the era of romanticism in Sweden had led to less interest in the sciences. In 1818, Berzelius was elected the Academy's secretary, and held the post until 1848. During Berzelius' tenure, he is credited with revitalising the Academy and bringing it into a second golden era (the first being the astronomer Pehr Jöns Jacob Berzelius 2

Wilhelm Wargentin's period as secretary from 1749 to 1783).[4] He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822.[5] In 1837, he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy, on chair number 5.

Achievements

Law of definite proportions

Not long after arriving to Stockholm he wrote a chemistry textbook for his medical students, from which point a long and fruitful career in chemistry began. In 1828 he compiled a table of relative atomic weights, where was set to 100, and which included all of the elements known at the time. This work provided evidence in favour of the atomic theory proposed by John Dalton: that inorganic chemical compounds are composed of combined in whole number amounts. In discovering that atomic weights are not integer multiples of the weight of , Berzelius also disproved Prout's hypothesis that elements are built up from atoms of hydrogen.

Chemical notation

In order to aid his experiments, he developed a system of chemical notation in which the elements were given simple written labels—such Daguerreotype of Berzelius. as O for oxygen, or Fe for iron—with proportions noted by numbers. This is the same basic system used today, the only difference being that instead of the subscript number used today (e.g., H O), Berzelius used a superscript (H2O). 2

Discovery of elements Berzelius is credited with identifying the chemical elements silicon, selenium, thorium, and cerium. Students working in Berzelius's laboratory also discovered lithium, and vanadium.

New chemical terms Berzelius is also credited with originating the chemical terms "catalysis," "polymer," "isomer," and "allotrope," although his original definitions differ dramatically from modern usage. For example, he coined the term "polymer" in 1833 to describe organic compounds which shared identical empirical but which differed in overall molecular weight, the larger of the compounds being described as "polymers" of the smallest. By this long superseded, pre-structural definition, (C H O ) was viewed as aa polymer of (CH O). 6 12 6 2

Biology Berzelius had an effect on biology as well. He was the first person to make the distinction between organic compounds (those containing ), and inorganic compounds. In particular, he advised Gerardus Johannes Mulder in his elemental analyses of organic compounds such as coffee, tea, and various proteins. The term "protein" itself was coined by Berzelius, after Mulder observed that all proteins seemed to have the same empirical formula and came to the erroneous conclusion that they might be composed of a single type of (very large) . Berzelius proposed the name because the material seemed to be the primitive substance of animal nutrition that plants prepare for the herbivores. Jöns Jacob Berzelius 3

Relations with other scientists Berzelius was a prolific correspondent with such leading scientists as Mulder, , Humphry Davy, Friedrich Wöhler and Eilhard Mitscherlich. After denying the fact that is an element (which was proposed by Humphry Davy in 1810) for quite some time, the dispute was ended by the finding of iodine in 1812.

Family

In 1818 Berzelius was ennobled by King Carl XIV Johan; in 1835, at the age of 56, he married Elisabeth Poppius, the 24-year old daughter of a Swedish cabinet minister, and in the same year was elevated to friherre.[6] Berzeliusskolan, a school situated next to his alma mater, Katedralskolan, is named for him. In 1939 his portrait appeared on a series of postage stamps commemorating the bicentenary of the founding of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Statue of Berzelius in the center of Berzelii Park, He died on 7 August 1848 at his home in Stockholm, where he had Stockholm lived since 1806.[7]

References

[1] "Jöns Jacob Berzelius" (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ EBchecked/ topic/ 62958/ Jons-Jacob-Berzelius). Encyclopædia Britannica Online. . Retrieved 2008-08-03.

[2] Berzelius Day honoured on YouTube (http:/ / www. iom3. org/ blog/ berzelius-day-honoured-youtube-0)

[3] Karolinska Institutet 200 År – 1810–2010 (http:/ / issuu. com/ karolinska_institutet/ docs/ broschyr_200_sve_lr)

[4] Centre for History of Science at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: KVA och Berzelius (http:/ / www. center. kva. se/ svenska/

omcentrum/ berzelius. htm), accessed May 23, 2009 (Swedish)

[5] "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (http:/ / www. amacad. org/ publications/ BookofMembers/ ChapterB. pdf). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. . Retrieved 24 June 2011. [6] Biographical Dictionary of Scientists ed. T. I. Williams. : A. & C. Black, 1969; pp. 55–56 [7] "Berzelius, Johan Jakob, Baron". Chamber's Biographical Dictionary 1897.

Further reading • Jaime Wisniak (2000). "Jöns Jacob Berzelius A Guide to the Perplexed Chemist". The Chemical Educator 5 (6): 343–350. doi:10.1007/s00897000430a. • Paul Walden (1947). "Zum 100. Todestag von Jöns Jakob Berzelius am 7. August 1948". Zeitschrift Naturwissenschaften 34 (11): 321–327. Bibcode 1947NW.....34..321W. doi:10.1007/BF00644137. • Holmberg, Arne (1933) Bibliografi över J. J. Berzelius. 2 parts in 5 vol. Stockholm: Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien, 1933–67. 1. del och suppl. 1–2. Tryckta arbeten av och om Berzelius. 2. del och suppl. Manuskript • Jorpes, J. Erik (1966) Jac. Berzelius – his life and work; translated from the Swedish manuscript by Barbara Steele. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1966. (Reissued by University of California Press, Berkeley, 1970 ISBN 0-520-01628-9) • Leicester, Henry (1970–80). "Berzelius, Jöns Jacob". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 90–97. ISBN 0684101149. • Partington, J. R. (1964) ; vol. 4. London: Macmillan; pp. 142–77 Jöns Jacob Berzelius 4

External links

• List of works by Berzelius (http:/ / libris. kb. se/ hitlist. jsp?q=förf:(Berzelius,+ Jacob,+ 1779-1848)) (301 items as of access date 2011-12-29)

• Online works (http:/ / runeberg. org/ authors/ jjberzel. html) at Project Runeberg (Latin)

• Works by Jöns Jacob Berzelius (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ author/ Jöns_Jacob_Berzelius) at Project Gutenberg (Latin)

• Online correspondence between Berzelius and Sir Humphry Davy (http:/ / fr. wikisource. org/ wiki/

Lettres_de_Jacob_Berzelius/ Tome_2) on Wikisource (English) (French)

• Online works (http:/ / gallica. bnf. fr/ Search?idArk=& n=15& p=1& lang=FR& adva=1& adv=1& reset=&

urlReferer=/ advancedsearch?lang=FR& enreg=& tri=& submit1=Lancer+ la+ recherche& catsel1=f_title&

cat1=& ope2=MUST& catsel2=f_creator& cat2=Berzelius& ope3=MUST& catsel3=f_tdm& cat3=&

date=daTo& daFr=& daTo=& sel_provenance_Part=toutPartenaires& sel_provenance_Edist=toutSNE&

sel_source=toutSources& dateMiseEnLigne=indexDateFrom& firstIndexationDateDebut=&

firstIndexationDateFin=& tri=) on Gallica (French) (Swedish) (27 items as of access date 2011-12-29)

• Nordisk familjebok (1905), band 3, s. 90–96 (http:/ / runeberg. org/ nfbc/ 0067. html) (Swedish) Article Sources and Contributors 5 Article Sources and Contributors

Jöns Jacob Berzelius Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=524245207 Contributors: A.J.1.5.2., A.Kurtz, Aciram, Aeluwas, Ameliorate!, Andycjp, Anthony Appleyard, Arthena, Avihu, Ayengar, Badseed, Blanchardb, Bobbyno.1, Bronks, Bryan Derksen, Bunzil, Cezn, Charles01, Chemical Engineer, Christian75, Christine1107, Connormah, Conversion script, D6, Dahlis, DennisDaniels, Dirac66, Durova, Emerson7, Eras-mus, Eric Forste, Erik Zachte, Espoo, Felix Folio Secundus, FlamingSilmaril, Fred J, Fulping, Fuzzform, Gabbe, GcSwRhIc, Gkandlikar, Graham87, Grendelkhan, Gurch, Gwernol, Gwib, Headbomb, Helix84, Hlnodovic, Hqb, Icairns, Independence, Iokseng, Irene Ringworm, Itub, JDW88, JWT, Jak123, Jedi18legolas, JmCor, John, JonasL, JoonasD6, Katharineamy, Keinstein, Ketiltrout, Kwamikagami, LA2, LeoCRogers, Leprof 7272, LewisHamiltonTR, Lindyak, Lockley, Lupo, MER-C, Mais oui!, Materialscientist, Mav, Mediran, Megan1967, Mendaliv, Mentifisto, Mic, Mingming94, Mkch, Mkweise, Monegasque, Munita Prasad, Nbarth, Nepenthes, Nethac DIU, Nev1, NewtN, Nimetapoeg, Nishkid64, Omnipaedista, Oracleofottawa, Palica, Paul Barlow, Peterlewis, Philip Trueman, Phoebe, Physchim62, Pion, Plrk, Plucas58, Polylerus, RJHall, Ragesoss, ResearchRave, Resurgent insurgent, RicJac, Rumpelstiltskin223, Rursus, RyanCross, Sadi Carnot, ScAvenger, Sentausa, Shimmin, Skater, Skizzik, Slarre, Stewartadcock, Stone, T. Anthony, Tabletop, Thorml, Thumperward, Tomas e, TortheViolator, TruPepitoM, Trunks ishida, Tsemii, Uppland, VASANTH S.N., Vsmith, Warofdreams, WikiLaurent, William Avery, WillowW, Winterst, XJamRastafire, Zundark, Александър, 171 anonymous edits Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Jöns_Jacob_Berzelius_daguerreotype.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jöns_Jacob_Berzelius_daguerreotype.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Jöns_Jacob_Berzelius_daguerreotype.png: unknown derivative work: Materialscientist (talk) Image:Berzelii park Stockholm Sweden.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Berzelii_park_Stockholm_Sweden.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Tage Olsin License

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