Robert Bunsen
Robert Bunsen | |
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Rhine Confederation | |
Died | 16 August 1899 | (aged 88)
Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
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Doctoral advisor | Friedrich Stromeyer |
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Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (German: [ˈbʊnzən]; 30 March 1811[a] – 16 August 1899) was a German
Bunsen also developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in
Early life and education
Bunsen was born in Göttingen, Germany in 1811, in what is now the state of Lower Saxony in Germany. Bunsen was the youngest of four sons of the University of Göttingen's chief librarian and professor of modern philology, Christian Bunsen (1770–1837).[5]
After attending school in Holzminden, Bunsen matriculated at Göttingen in 1828 and studied chemistry with Friedrich Stromeyer, mineralogy with Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann, and mathematics with Carl Friedrich Gauss.[5] After obtaining a PhD in 1831, Bunsen spent 1832 and 1833 traveling in France, Germany, and Austria. During his journeys, Bunsen met the scientists Friedlieb Runge (who discovered aniline and in 1819 isolated caffeine), Justus von Liebig in Giessen, and Eilhard Mitscherlich in Bonn.[5]
Academic career
In 1833, Bunsen became a lecturer at Göttingen and began experimental studies of the (in)solubility of metal salts of
Bunsen's work brought him quick and wide acclaim, partly because cacodyl, which is extremely toxic and undergoes spontaneous combustion in dry air, is so difficult to work with. Bunsen almost died from arsenic poisoning, and an explosion with cacodyl cost him sight in his right eye. His work with Cadet's fuming liquid was an important step in the development of the radical theory of organic compounds.
In 1841,[15] Bunsen created the Bunsen cell battery, using a carbon electrode instead of the expensive platinum electrode used in William Robert Grove's electrochemical cell. Early in 1851 he accepted a professorship at the University of Breslau, where he taught for three semesters. [citation needed]
In late 1852, Bunsen became the successor of
There had been earlier studies of the characteristic colors of heated elements, but nothing systematic. In the summer of 1859, Kirchhoff suggested to Bunsen that he should try to form prismatic spectra of these colors. By October of that year, the two scientists had invented an appropriate instrument, a prototype spectroscope. Using it, they were able to identify the characteristic spectra of
In 1860, Bunsen was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.[citation needed]
He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1862.[21]
In 1877, Robert Bunsen together with
Personality
Bunsen was one of the most universally admired scientists of his generation. He was a master teacher, devoted to his students, and they were equally devoted to him. At a time of vigorous and often caustic scientific debates, Bunsen always conducted himself as a perfect gentleman, maintaining his distance from theoretical disputes. He much preferred to work quietly in his laboratory, continuing to enrich his science with useful discoveries. As a matter of principle he never took out a patent. He never married.[2][23]
Despite his lack of pretension, Bunsen was a vivid "chemical character", had a well-developed sense of humour, and is the subject of many amusing anecdotes.[24]
Retirement and death
When Bunsen retired in 1889 at the age of 78, he shifted his work solely to geology and mineralogy, interests which he had pursued throughout his career. He died in Heidelberg, Germany on 16 August 1899, at the age of 88.[25][26]
See also
- Bunsenite
- Flash (photography)
- Geysir
- Lepidolite
- List of German inventors and discoverers
- Photobiology
- Volcanic gas
- Flame test
Notes
- curricula vitae handwritten by Bunsen himself, document 30 March 1811 as Bunsen's true birth date;[1][2][3][4] however, many later sources cite 31 March as the date.[5][6][7][8][9][10] According to his biographer Georg Lockemann, Bunsen himself celebrated his birthday on the 31st in his later years. Lockemann nevertheless regarded the 30th as the correct date.[4]
References
- ^ Martin Quack (2011). "Wann wurde Robert Wilhelm Bunsen geboren?". Bunsen-Magazin. 2. Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie: 56–57.
- ^ ISBN 3-8047-2320-9
- ^ "Robert Wilhelm Bunsen", Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 3 April 2011
- ^ a b Georg Lockemann: Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. Lebensbild eines deutschen Naturforschers, Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart, 1949, p. 18
- ^ .
- ^ "Robert Bunsen's 200th Anniversary", Royal Society of Chemistry
- ^ "Bunsen without his burner", Colin A. Russell, Phys. Educ. 34(5) September 1999
- ^ "Bunsen, Robert Wilhelm Eberhard, Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography (2008). Retrieved 31 March 2011 from Encyclopedia.com
- S2CID 3989053.
- .
- ^ Weeks, Mary Elvira (1956). The discovery of the elements (6th ed.). Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education.
- ^ "Robert Wilhelm Bunsen". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
- The American Cyclopædia.
- .
- .
- .
- ^ "Chemical Manipulation, Being Instructions to Students in Chemistry", Internet Archive Michael Faraday, 1827
- ^ Marshall, James L.; Marshall, Virginia R. (2008). "Rediscovery of the Elements: Mineral Waters and Spectroscopy" (PDF). The Hexagon: 42–48. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
- .
- ^ "Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff". Science History Institute. June 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Davy Medal – Royal Society". royalsociety.org. The Royal Society. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
- ^ Lockemann, G. (1949). Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. Stuttgart: Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft. pp. 214–223.
- ISBN 9780841228016.
- ^ Lockemann, Georg (1957), "Bunsen, Robert", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 3, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 18–20; (full text online)
- .
Further reading
- Gasometry: Comprising the Leading Physical and Chemical Properties of Gases by Robert Bunsen; translated by Henry Roscoe. London: Walton and Maberly, 1857
- Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, by Georg Lockemann, 1949.
- Sir Henry Roscoe's "Bunsen Memorial Lecture", in: Trans. Chem. Soc., 1900, reprinted (in German) with other obituary notices in an edition of Bunsen's collected works published by Wilhelm Ostwald and Max Bodenstein in 3 vols. at Leipzig in 1904. This is Gesammelte Abhandlungen von Robert Bunsen: im Auftrage der Deutschen Bunsen-Gesellschaft für angewandte Physikalische Chemie hrsg. von Wilhelm Ostwald und Max Bodenstein. 3 Bände. Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 1904
- Crew, H. (1899). "Robert Wilhelm Bunsen". The Astrophysical Journal. 10: 301–305. doi:10.1086/140654.
External links
- Media related to Robert Bunsen at Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Wilhelm Bunsen
- Robert Bunsen at the Mathematics Genealogy Project