Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner
| Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner | |
|---|---|
 Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner |
|
| Born | )13 December 1780 Hof, Bayreuth |
| Died | 24 March 1849) (aged 68) Jena, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Known for | Döbereiner's triads Döbereiner's lamp |
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (13 December 1780 – 24 March 1849) was a German chemist who is best known for work that foreshadowed the periodic law for the chemical elements.
Life and work
As a coachman's son, Döbereiner had little opportunity for formal schooling, and so he was apprenticed to an apothecary, reading widely, and attending science lectures. He eventually became a professor at the University of Jena in 1810. In work beginning in 1829,[1] Döbereiner discovered trends in certain properties of selected groups of elements. For example, the average atomic mass of lithium and potassium was close to the atomic mass of sodium. A similar pattern was found with calcium, strontium, and barium, with sulfur, selenium, and tellurium, and also with chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Moreover, the densities for some of these triads followed a similar pattern. These sets of elements became known as "Dobereiner's Triads".[2][3] He also worked with elements like eka-boron in an attempt to find a cure to diseases like rabies.
Döbereiner also is known for his discovery of furfural, for his work on the use of platinum as a catalyst, and for a lighter, known as Döbereiner's lamp.
The German writer Goethe was a friend of Döbereiner, attended his lectures weekly, and used his theories of chemical affinities as a basis for his famous 1809 novella Elective Affinities.
References
- ^ http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/dobereiner.html
- ^ "Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner". Retrieved 2008-03-08.
- ^ "A Historic Overview: Mendeleev and the Periodic Table". Retrieved 2008-03-08.
Further reading
- Collins, P. M. D. (1986). "The Pivotal Role of Platinum in the Discovery of Catalysis". Platinum Metals Review 30 (3): 141–146.
- Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang (1829). "An Attempt to Group Elementary Substances according to Their Analogies". Poggendorf's Annalen der Physik und Chemie 15: 301–307.
- Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang (1829). "An Attempt to Group Elementary Substances according to Their Analogies". Annalen der Physik und Chemie 20: 301–307.
- Hoffmann, Roald (1998). "Döbereiner's Lighter". American Scientist 86 (4): 326. doi:10.1511/1998.4.326.
- Kauffman, George B. (1999). "Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner's Feuerzeug". Platinum Metals Review 43 (3).
- Kaufmann, George (1999). "From Triads to Catalysis: Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (1780–1849) on the 150th Anniversary of His Death". The Chemical Educator 4 (5): 186–197. doi:10.1007/s00897990326a.
- McDonald, Donald (1965). "Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner". Platinum Metals Review 9 (4): 136–139.
- Prandtl, Wilhelm (1950). "Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner, Goethe's Chemical Adviser". Journal of Chemical Education 27 (4): 176–181. Bibcode:1950JChEd..27..176P. doi:10.1021/ed027p176.
- Kimberley A. McGrath, Bridget Travers. 1999. World of Scientific Discovery. Gale Research.