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Biography of Jöns Jacob BerzeliusName: Jöns Jacob BerzeliusBirth Date: August 20, 1779 Death Date: August 7, 1848 Place of Birth: Väversunda, Sweden Nationality: Swedish Gender: Male Occupations: chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius The Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848) was one of the first European scientists to accept John Dalton's atomic theory and to recognize the need for a new system of chemical symbols. He was a dominant figure in chemical science.Jöns Jacob Berzelius, the son of a clergyman-schoolmaster, was born on Aug. 20, 1779, at Väversunda, Sweden. He studied for 6 years at the medical school at Uppsala and then studied chemistry at the Stockholm School of Surgery. In 1808 he was elected to the Swedish Academy of Science and was appointed its secretary in 1818. He married Elisabeth Poppius in 1835 and on that occasion was made a baron by the Swedish king, Charles XIV.Atomic Weights and Chemical SymbolsDuring the first decade of the 19th century, chemists were becoming aware that chemicals combined in definite proportions. This concept, sometimes known as Proust's law after the French chemist Joseph Louis …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…idea, it might just as well be forgotten, and that his insistence on the acceptance of his own ideas in part blocked the progress of chemistry. In his last years he was still denouncing some of his colleagues for what he termed their "Swedish laziness." He died on Aug. 7, 1848, and was buried in Stockholm. Further Reading The biography of Berzelius by J. Erik Jorpes, Jac. Berzelius: His Life and Work (1960; trans. 1971), is highly recommended. There is a long essay on Berzelius by Aaron J. Ihde, which contains many notes and references, in Eduard Farber, ed., Great Chemists (1961). Volume 4 of J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry (1964), is also useful. On the subject of chemical nomenclature Maurice Crosland, Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry (1962), should be consulted.Melhado, Evan Marc, Jacob Berzelius, the emergence of his chemical system, Stockholm, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell International; Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981. |