About
Jöns Jacob Berzelius, born 20 August 1779 in Väversunda and died 7 August 1848 in Stockholm, was a Swedish chemist. He studied medicine at Uppsala University, then became professor of chemistry and pharmacy at the Karolinska Institute (1807-1832). A member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, he served as its permanent secretary from 1818 until his death. He introduced modern chemical notation (one- or two-letter symbols), determined atomic weights for 45 elements, and discovered or co-discovered several elements (cerium, selenium, silicon, thorium, vanadium). He coined fundamental terms such as catalysis, isomerism, allotropy, polymer, protein, and halogen. His textbook Lärbok i Kemien was authoritative for about fifty years.
* 1779-08-20 — † 1848-08-07
Major works
- Lärbok i Kemien (1808)textbook
Key milestones
- 1808Elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
- 1813Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London.
- 1818Becomes permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Themes
Chemical notationAtomic weightsDiscovery of elementsChemical terminologyMineral classification
Sources: catalogues.royalsociety.org · britannica.com · oxfordreference.com