por Jons Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848) was a Swedish scientist, considered one of the most important chemists of his day and known for being a methodical experimenter. The construction of the theory of electrochemical dualism, the creation of the first list of atomic weights of the elements, and the invention of chemical symbols were his most important works.
He is also credited with the discovery of a large number of chemical elements and is recognized for his contributions to the study of chemistry. These facts make him considered one of the most important figures in the development of modern chemistry.
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Biography
He was born on August 20, 1779, in Väversunda, Sweden. He was part of a well-educated family. He had a somewhat difficult childhood, as his father died of tuberculosis when Jöns was only four years old, in 1783. Soon after, he also lost his mother, who died at the age of 40 in 1787.
Berzelius was cared for by his stepfather, Anders Ekmark, the vicar of the Hedvig parish, with whom he had a good relationship until he remarried. His family was made up of soldiers, priests, civil servants and even pharmacists.
Berzelius acknowledged that he did not have good memories of his childhood and decided to leave his stepfather’s house as quickly as possible. This was what happened when he was able to start his studies in secondary school.
Berzelius was tall, with curly brown hair and blue eyes. In his youth he was considered a mature person, although with a stubborn and determined character.
Education
In 1793 Jöns began his studies at the Linköping Higher Secondary School. He had several problems to complete his years of study due to economic problems and a teaching that was not the best for his interests.
He decided to dedicate himself to studying medicine, because he believed that as a doctor he could have a better future and then dedicate himself to his main interests. During this time he became a private tutor to the children of wealthy families.
In 1796 he started at the University of Uppsala thanks to a scholarship. Not very satisfied with everything he was learning, he created his own laboratory at home and started working on different chemical experiments. In 1798 he took his first course in chemistry. In 1799 he was already working as a doctor, but he also began to study the composition of water.
He had some problems finishing his studies, because his scholarship was taken away. So he found himself having to ask one of his uncles for money, who got him a job as a doctor’s apprentice.
He worked as an assistant professor at the Stockholm School of Surgery and as a doctor until he obtained the tenure of professor in 1807. By doing this, he fulfilled one of his objectives, since he could now devote most of his time to research.
Personal life
His father was Samuel Berzelius and his mother Elisabet Dorotea. Jöns had a sister, Flora, who was younger than him. His parents were teachers at Linköping High School. Berzelius’s mother remarried after the death of her first husband.
Berzelius married when he was already 56 years old and he married Elisabeth (Betty) Johanna Poppius Berzelius, a young woman 32 years his junior. Betty was best known for being the daughter of one of the ministers who were part of the Swedish government. They never had children and always lived in the scientist’s house in Stockholm.
At some point Berzelius went so far as to claim that he had avoided the marriage because he did not want it to interfere with his studies. After his marriage his publications and discoveries dwindled, but he spent much time defending his theories against his detractors.
The same year in which he married (1835) he was granted a title of nobility that existed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a baron.
Death
He suffered from many health problems, which forced him to visit health centers continuously, even abroad. During the last years of his life, he spent a lot of time sick after having suffered a stroke, although he tried to continue with his work in the same way.
In August 1848 both his legs were paralyzed and he died on August 7 of the same year at his home in Stockholm, Sweden, when he was 68 years old. He passed away two weeks before his 69th birthday.
contributions to science
Jöns Jacob Berzelius investigated, examined, and described more than 200 known chemical compounds up to that time. From 1820 his work focused more on systematizing his research and complementing some studies.
Berzelius discovered a multitude of elements, including lithium, selenium, and thorium. He was also responsible for describing the specific weight of chemical substances and was in charge of establishing what became known as the electrochemical theory, where it was thought that the positive and negative forces of the elements could balance each other.
Berzelius worked almost his entire career alone and without any kind of help. Many scholars question this, because they fail to understand how one man could carry out so much research and work.
He also worked in the area of mineralogy, where he classified minerals by their chemical composition instead of by the type of crystal, which was done previously.
While working on a medical book for his students, Berzelius began a series of experiments that made him famous, establishing that the elements present in inorganic substances were bound according to their weight. This is what is known as Proust’s Law or the Law of Definite Proportions.
Berzelius’s support of Proust’s law in 1811 gave it great acceptance among the scientific community.
Discovery of the weights
Using his experimental results he was able to determine the atomic weights of almost all the elements known at the time. He determined that the atomic numbers used by John Dalton were not precise enough to make Dalton’s atomic theory practical to use.
For those reasons, he took on the burden of working and discovering the atomic weight of the elements that were known. Based on that, he recommended that oxygen be the standard element and not hydrogen as Dalton proposed.
His discoveries became even more important because his laboratory equipment was not the best, he had limited access to chemicals in Sweden, he paid for them himself, and he had no assistance.
scientific notation system
Having to deal with so many elements motivated the creation of a symbol system that was logical and simple, which is basically the same scientific notation system used today. Berzelius published his first table of atomic weights in 1814. Many of the values are close to today’s standards.
The system he proposed consisted of giving each element a symbol. This symbol would be the initial of the name of the element, but in Latin, and this initial would be accompanied by another letter that had the name of the element in case the symbols were repeated. For example, this occurs in the cases of carbon (C), chlorine (Cl) or calcium (Ca).
dualistic theory
His ideas gave rise to the dualistic theory, which was quite popular during the first years of the 19th century. The ideas raised by this doctrine worked very well until the appearance of organic chemistry.
Plays
Berzelius’s first article was written while he was still a student. It was a chemical analysis of mineral water collected at a health center in the area. He wrote other papers which he sent to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, but these were rejected and not published.
He also published an article on the voltaic pile, with Wilhelm von Hisinger. It is here where Berzelius allows his ideas about the dualist theory to appear.
Perhaps the most important work he published was his chemistry school book. He did it at the age of 30 and the first edition was considered a standard book that was present in all Swedish universities.
He also created the table of atomic weights and published his discoveries in magazines or books of the time.
Although there is no exact figure, it is said that he published more than 250 works throughout his life, including more than 20 books. It is said that he managed to cover almost every possible aspect of chemistry.
As the author and editor of his works, he focused a lot on the translation of his works into various languages. Especially because of the importance of French, German and English as scientific languages.
Acknowledgments
A school located next to his alma mater was named in his honor. In 1939 his portrait was illustrated on a series of postage stamps that served to commemorate the bicentenary of the founding of the Swedish Academy of Sciences.
In life, in addition to the title of baron, he obtained some distinctions such as Knight of the Order of Leopold, for his services to science in 1840. He also received the Order of Merit for Science and Arts, which he received in Germany for his contributions to science.
References
Ball, P. (2001). Life’s matrix. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press. Jons Jacob Berzelius – discoverer of thorium&cerium elements. (2019). Retrieved from worldofchemicals.com Jöns Jakob Berzelius. (2017). Retrieved from sciencehistory.org Jöns Jakob Berzelius. Retrieved from newworldencyclopedia.org Melhado, E. Jöns Jacob Berzelius | Swedish chemist. Recovered from britannica.com