Everything about J Ns Jakob Berzelius totally explained
Friherre Jöns Jacob Berzelius (
20 August 1779 –
7 August 1848) was a
Swedish chemist. He invented the modern
chemical notation, and is together with
John Dalton,
Antoine Lavoisier, and
Robert Boyle considered a father of modern
chemistry.
Career
Berzelius was born at
Väversunda in
Östergötland in
Sweden. He lost both his parents at an early age. He was taken care of by relatives in
Linköping where he attended the school today known as
Katedralskolan. Thereafter he enrolled at the
Uppsala University where he learned the profession of
medical doctor from 1796 to 1801. He was taught chemistry by
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg, the discoverer of
tantalum. He worked as apprentice in a pharmacy and with a physician in the
Medevi mineral 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. He worked as physician near Stockholm until the mine owner
Wilhelm Hisinger discovered his analytical abilities and provided him with a laboratory.
In
1807 Berzelius was appointed professor in chemistry and pharmacy at the
Karolinska Institute.
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. While conducting experiments in support of the textbook he discovered the
law of constant proportions, which showed that
inorganic substances are composed of different elements in constant proportions by weight. Based on this, in
1828 he compiled a table of relative atomic weights, where
oxygen 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 atoms combined in whole number amounts. In discovering that atomic weights are not integer multiples of hydrogen's, Berzelius also disproved
Prout's hypothesis that elements are built up from atoms of hydrogen.
In order to aid his experiments, he developed a system of chemical notation in which the elements were given simple written labels—such 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 (for example, H
2O), Berzelius used a superscript.
Discovery of Elements
Berzelius is credited with identifying the
chemical elements
silicon,
selenium,
thorium, and
cerium. Students working in Berzelius' laboratory also discovered
lithium, and
vanadium.
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 formulas but differed in overall molecular weight, the larger of the compounds being described as "polymers" of the smallest. According to this (now obsolete) definition, glucose (C
6H
12O
6) would be a polymer of formaldehyde (CH
2O).
Biology
Berzelius had an effect on biology as well. He was the first person to make the distinction between organic compounds (those containing carbon), and inorganic compounds. In particular, he advised
Gerhardus 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 might be composed of a single type of (very large)
molecule. Berzelius proposed the name because the material seemed to be the primitive substance of animal nutrition that plants prepare for the herbivores.
Berzelius was a prolific correspondent with such leading scientists as Mulder,
Claude Louis Berthollet,
Humphry Davy,
Friedrich Wöhler and
Eilhard Mitscherlich).
After denying the fact that chlorine 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 1813.
Berzeliusskolan, a school situated next to his alma mater Katedralskolan, is named for him.
In 1835 at the age of 56, he married Elisabeth Poppius, the 24-year old daughter of a Swedish cabinet minister.
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