Jones Jakob Berzelius

BERCELIUS(Berzelius), Jones Jakob

The Swedish chemist Jones Jakob Berzelius was born in the village of Veversund in southern Sweden. His father was the headmaster of a school in Linköping. Berzelius lost his parents early and already while studying at the gymnasium earned private lessons. Nevertheless, Berzelius was able to receive medical education at Uppsala University in 1797-1801. At the end of the course, Berzelius became an assistant at the Medical-Surgical Institute of Stockholm, and in 1807 he was elected to the post of professor of chemistry and pharmacy.

Berzelius's scientific research covers all major issues general chemistry first half of the 19th century He experimentally tested and proved the reliability of the laws of constancy of composition and multiple ratios in relation to inorganic and organic compounds... One of the most important achievements of Berzelius was the creation of a system of atomic masses of chemical elements. Berzelius determined the composition of more than two thousand compounds and calculated atomic masses 45 chemical elements (1814-1826). Berzelius also introduced modern designations for chemical elements and the first formulas for chemical compounds.

In the course of his analytical work, Berzelius discovered three new chemical elements: cerium (1803) together with the Swedish chemist W. Hisinger (independently of them cerium was also discovered by MG Klaproth), selenium (1817) and thorium (1828); first received silicon, titanium, tantalum and zirconium in a free state.

Berzelius is also known for his research in the field of electrochemistry. In 1803, he carried out work on electrolysis (together with W. Hisinger), in 1812 - on the electrochemical classification of elements. Based on this classification in the years 1812-1819. Berzelius developed the electrochemical theory of affinity, according to which the reason for the combination of elements in certain respects is the electrical polarity of the atoms. In his theory, Berzelius considered the most important characteristic of an element to be electronegativity; chemical affinity was considered by him as a desire to equalize the electrical polarities of atoms or groups of atoms.

Since 1811, Berzelius was engaged in the systematic determination of the composition of organic compounds, as a result of which he proved the applicability of stoichiometric laws to organic compounds. He made a significant contribution to the creation of the theory of complex radicals, which is in good agreement with his dualistic ideas about the affinity of atoms. Berzelius also developed theoretical concepts of isomerism and polymerization (1830-1835), ideas of allotropy (1841). He also introduced the terms "organic chemistry", "allotropy", "isomerism" into science.

Summarizing all the then known results of studies of catalytic processes, Berzelius proposed (1835) the term "catalysis" to denote the phenomena of non-stoichiometric interference of "third forces" (catalysts) in chemical reactions. Berzelius introduced the concept of "catalytic force", which is analogous to the modern concept of catalytic activity, and pointed out that catalysis plays an essential role in the "laboratory of living organisms."

Berzelius has published over two hundred and fifty scientific papers; among them is the five-volume "Textbook of Chemistry" (1808-1818), which went through five editions and was translated into German and French. Since 1821, Berzelius published an annual Review of the Advances in Chemistry and Physics (27 volumes in total), which was the most complete collection of the latest scientific achievements of his time and had a significant impact on the development of theoretical concepts of chemistry. Berzelius enjoyed great prestige among contemporary chemists. In 1808 he became a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, in 1810-1818. was its president. Since 1818 Berzelius is the permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences. In 1818 he was knighted, and in 1835 he was awarded the title of baron.

The Swedish chemist Jones Jakob Berzelius was born in the village of Veversund in southern Sweden. His father was the headmaster of a school in Linköping. Berzelius lost his parents early and already while studying at the gymnasium earned private lessons. Nevertheless, Berzelius was able to receive medical education at Uppsala University in 1797-1801. At the end of the course, Berzelius became an assistant at the Medical-Surgical Institute of the Stockholm Institute, and in 1807 he was elected to the post of professor of chemistry and pharmacy.

Berzelius's scientific research covers all the main problems of general chemistry in the first half of the 19th century. He experimentally tested and proved the reliability of the laws of constancy of composition and multiple ratios in relation to inorganic and organic compounds. One of the most important achievements of Berzelius was the creation of a system of atomic masses of chemical elements. Berzelius determined the composition of more than two thousand compounds and calculated the atomic masses of 45 chemical elements (1814-1826). Berzelius also introduced modern designations for chemical elements and the first formulas for chemical compounds.

In the course of his analytical work, Berzelius discovered three new chemical elements: cerium (1803), together with the Swedish chemist V.G. Giesenger (independently of them, cerium was also discovered by M.G. Kaprot), selenium (1817) and thorium (1828); first received silicon, titanium, tantalum and zirconium in a free state.

Berzelius is also known for his research in the field of electrochemistry. In 1803, he performed work on electrolysis (together with V. Giesinger), in 1812 - on the electrochemical classification of elements. Based on this classification in the years 1812-1819. Berzelius developed the electrochemical theory of affinity, according to which the reason for the combination of elements in certain respects is the electrical polarity of the atoms. In his theory, Berzelius considered the most important characteristic of an element to be electronegativity; chemical affinity was considered by him as a desire to equalize the electrical polarities of atoms or groups of atoms.

Berzelius has published over two hundred and fifty scientific papers; among them - the five-volume "Textbook of Chemistry" (1808-1818), which went through five editions and translated into German and French. Since 1821, Berzelius published the annual Review of the Advances in Chemistry and Physics (27 volumes in total), which was the most complete collection of the latest scientific achievements of his time and had a significant impact on the development of theoretical concepts of chemistry. Berzelius enjoyed great prestige among contemporary chemists. In 1808 he became a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, in 1810-1818. was its president. Since 1818 Berzelius is the permanent secretary of the Royal Academy of Sciences. In 1818 he was knighted, and in 1835 he was awarded the title of baron.

Boltzmann, Ludwig

Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann was born in Vienna into the family of an employee. After graduating from the gymnasium in Linz, he entered the University of Vienna, where he studied with J. Stefan and J. Loschmidt. In 1866 Boltzmann defended his doctoral dissertation, worked as an assistant to Stephen, then became a privat-docent at the University of Vienna. Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Graz (1869-1873), Professor of Mathematics at the University of Vienna (1873-1876), Professor experimental physics University of Graz (1876-1889). In 1889-1894. occupied the chair of theoretical physics in Munich, in 1894-1900. in Vienna, in 1900-1902. in Leipzig and then again in Vienna.

Boltzmann's research interests covered almost all areas of physics (and a number of areas of mathematics). Author of works on mathematics, mechanics, hydrodynamics, elasticity theory, electromagnetic field theory, optics, thermodynamics and kinetic theory of gases. However, Boltzmann's works on the kinetic theory of gases and the statistical basis of thermodynamics are of the greatest importance. In 1886-1872. He carried out the most important research in the field of the kinetic theory of gases, derived the law of distribution of gas molecules by velocities, generalizing the distributions of J.C. Maxwell to the case when external forces act on the gas (Boltzmann statistics). The formula for the equilibrium Boltzmann distribution served as the basis for classical statistical physics. In 1872, applying statistical methods to the kinetic theory of gases, he derived the basic kinetic equation of gases. He established a fundamental relationship between the entropy of a physical system and the probability of its state, proved the statistical nature of the second law of thermodynamics, which indicated the inconsistency of the hypothesis of "heat death" of the Universe. In the same year, he proved the so-called H-theorem, which asserted that the H-function characterizing the state of a closed-loop system cannot increase with time. These studies by Boltzmann laid the foundation for the thermodynamics of irreversible processes.

Boltzmann was the first to apply the laws of thermodynamics to radiation processes, and in 1884 he theoretically derived the law of thermal radiation, according to which the energy emitted by an absolutely black body is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature. In 1879 this law was experimentally established by J. Stefan and is now known as the Stefan-Boltzmann law.

Boltzmann was not only a theoretician, but also an experimenter. He carried out the first experiments to test the validity of Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism, measured the dielectric constants of various substances, and investigated the polarization of dielectrics. He measured the dielectric constant of gases and solids and established its relationship with the optical refractive index.

The main results of the scientist's research are presented in his fundamental lecture courses - "Lectures on Maxwell's theory of electricity and light" (vols. 1–2, 1891–1893); "Lectures on the theory of gases" (vols. 1–2, 1896–1898); "Lectures on the principles of mechanics" (vols. 1-3, 1897-1920).

Boltzmann's life ended tragically: he committed suicide on September 5, 1906 in Duino (Italy).

Jens Jakob Berzelius was born in a small village in southern Sweden on August 20, 1779. At the age of fourteen he was sent to a gymnasium, but soon he had to start earning a living and study himself. In 1797 he entered the medical faculty of Uppsala University. Life did not spoil the young man: in the afternoon classes at the university, in the evenings hard work to ensure a more than modest existence. What Berzelius did not do at that time: he gave private lessons, helped doctors in the hospital; and yet he found time to study foreign languages \u200b\u200b- English, German, French.

Student years and the beginning of serious research

In the first years of the university, Jacob was fond of botany and zoology, later he began to study chemistry systematically. The teaching of chemistry at Uppsala University was conducted from the standpoint of phlogiston theory. Not satisfied with this, the future scientist began to study independently according to the book by H. Girtanner "The initial foundations of antiphlogistic chemistry".

Practical classes in chemistry at the university were held three times a week, which did not suit the curious student. To be able to work more often in the laboratory, Berzelius made an agreement with the attendant - now he could enter there from the back door at any time. Once, for "secret" studies, he was found by the professor of chemistry, metallurgy and pharmacy I. Afzelius. The professor liked this persistence, and he allowed the student to "use the front door" to the laboratory. But this was not enough for Berzelius. He found a small room with a closet and set up a home laboratory. Together with his younger brother Christopher Jens studied the properties of liquids and gases, conducted experiments with electric current. He explained the results of experiments on the study of the composition of compounds on the basis of a new chemical nomenclature developed by a group of French chemists led by A. Lavoisier in 1787. In 1800, Berzelius investigated the effect nitric acid on ethyl alcohol and studied the properties of "laughing gas" (nitric oxide N 2 O). Afzelius sent the results of the young chemist's latest work to Stockholm, to the Academy of Sciences. The answer came ... three years later! It was short: "The new chemical nomenclature is not used at the Academy!" However, this did not discourage Berzelius. He defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine and was appointed to the post of assistant of the medical faculty at the Stockholm Medical and Surgical School (1802), and then became the professor of medicine and pharmacy there (1807). Together with V. Hisinger, a wealthy mine owner, he carried out a series of works, the results of which formed the basis of his electrochemical theory. According to this theory, each complex substance consists of two oppositely charged parts, i.e. it has a dual (binary) composition. The composition of sodium sulfate, for example, was recorded as follows:

We will not dwell on Berzelius's research in the field of non organic chemistry... We only note that he determined the relative atomic masses of 45 elements; established the percentage of more than two thousand compounds; discovered the elements silicon, thorium, selenium, cerium; first isolated zirconium and tantalum; he laid the foundations for modern chemical symbolism; his contribution to chemical qualitative and quantitative analysis, mineralogical chemistry, and the doctrine of catalysis is invaluable. This list, far from complete, is very impressive.

Berzelius's contribution to organic chemistry

We are primarily interested in Berzelius's contribution to organic chemistry. To begin with, it was he who introduced the very term organic chemistry into science. In his textbook Lectures on Animal Chemistry (1806-1808), he wrote:

“Considered from a chemical point of view, a living body is a workshop of chemical processes carried out by special instruments adapted to the properties of the products produced, each of which is called an organ. Hence, the living nature is called organic. We have extended this name also to the remains and products of living bodies ... ”.

Nature, according to Berzelius, is divided into two rather different classes - organic and inorganic, between which there is no sharp border and which "obey the same affinities and through them ... pass into each other." And if the inorganic nature is formed by a large number of "basic substances" (Berzelius means chemical elements), then the "primordial substances" of organic nature are less diverse, but they "enter into every organic body, and their various types of compounds are endless." “That part of physiology,” Berzelius writes, “which describes the composition of living bodies with chemical processesis called organic chemistry. "

Berzelius - teacher

The title page of the chemistry textbook by J. Berzelius, 1823

Berzelius was an excellent popularizer of chemistry. He is the author of several textbooks and many reviews on various fields of chemistry and related sciences. This side of his activity contributed to the spread of chemical knowledge and the training of new chemists. The famous "Textbook of Chemistry" by Berzelius was reprinted several times, was translated into many European languages. Many generations of students studied on it. The last edition (1843-1848) was published in five volumes. The first volume covered theoretical questions, the second presented information about metals, the third - about salts, and the fourth - general questions of organic chemistry; in the fifth, individual organic substances were described.

Beginning in 1821, Berzelius published 27 volumes of Annual Reports, which contained reviews (usually critical) of research in physics and chemistry carried out in various countries. These yearbooks were very popular among scientists.

Berzelius traveled extensively. He visited Germany, France, Switzerland, and wherever he was, he was primarily interested in the achievements of science. He met with the greatest scientists of his time-G. Davy, C. Berthollet, J. Gay-Lussac, L. Thénard, listened to their lectures, was interested not only in research work, but also in the organization of teaching; much of what he learned, Berzelius then used in his work. Thus, he was the first in Sweden to introduce demonstration of experiments during lectures. Berzelius corresponded with many scientists from different countries. He was an excellent teacher, he had many students, and among them Friedrich Wöhler , one of the founders of organic chemistry.

In 1810 Berzelius was elected an academician, and two years later he became president of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was the recognized head of chemists for almost half a century, his contemporaries called him "the chemist's legislator." Berzelius died on August 7, 1848.

Monument to Berzelius stands in the park named after him in the capital of Sweden