Jöns Jacob Berzelius

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Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius

(Swedish: [jœns ˌjɑːkɔb bæɹˈseːliɵs]; 20
August 1779 – 7 August 1848), named by
himself and contemporary society as
Jacob Berzelius, was a Swedish chemist.
Berzelius is considered, along with Robert
Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier,
to be one of the founders of modern
chemistry.[1]
 J. J. Berzelius

Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848)

Born 20 August 1779

Väversunda, Östergötland, Sweden

Died 7 August 1848 (aged 68)

Stockholm, Sweden

Nationality Sweden

Alma mater Uppsala University

Known for Atomic weights

Chemical notation
catalysis
 Silicon
Selenium
Thorium
Cerium

Awards Copley medal (1836)

Scientific career

Fields Chemistry

Institutions Karolinska Institute

Doctoral Johann Afzelius

advisor

Doctoral James Finlay Weir Johnston

students Heinrich Rose

Berzelius began his career as a physician

but his researches in physical chemistry
were of lasting significance in the
development of the subject. He is
especially noted for his determination of
atomic weights; his experiments led to a
more complete depiction of the principles
of stoichiometry, or the field of chemical
combining proportions. In 1803 Berzelius
demonstrated the power of an
electrochemical cell to decompose
chemicals into pairs of electrically
opposite constituents.

Berzelius's work with atomic weights and

his theory of electrochemical dualism led
to his development of a modern system of
chemical formula notation that could
portray the composition of any compound
both qualitatively (by showing its
electrochemically opposing ingredients)
and quantitatively (by showing the
proportions in which the ingredients were
united). His system abbreviated the Latin
names of the elements with one or two
letters and applied superscripts to
designate the number of atoms of each
element present in both the acidic and
basic ingredients.

Berzelius himself discovered and isolated

several new elements, including cerium
(1803) and thorium (1828). Berzelius’s
interest in mineralogy also fostered his
analysis and preparation of new
compounds of these and other elements.
The mineral berzelianite was discovered in
1850 and named after him. He was a strict
empiricist and insisted that any new theory
be consistent with the sum of chemical
knowledge. He developed classical
analytical techniques, and investigated
isomerism and catalysis, phenomena that
owe their names to him. He became a
member of the Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences in 1808 and served from 1818 as
its principal functionary, the perpetual
secretary. He is known in Sweden as "the
Father of Swedish Chemistry". Berzelius
Day is celebrated on 20 August in honour
of him.[2]
Biography
Berzelius was born in the parish of
Väversunda in Östergötland in Sweden.
His father was a school teacher in the
nearby city of Linköping and his mother a
homemaker[3]. Berzelius lost both his
parents at an early age; his father passed
away in 1779, and his mother in 1787.
Relatives in Linköping took care of him,
and there he attended the school today
known as Katedralskolan. He then enrolled
at Uppsala University, where he learned the
profession of medical doctor from 1796 to
1801; Anders Gustaf Ekeberg, the
discoverer of tantalum, taught him
chemistry. He worked as an apprentice in
a pharmacy and with a physician in the
Medevi mineral springs. During this time,
he conducted analysis of the spring water.
For his medical studies, he examined the
influence of galvanic current on several
diseases and graduated as M.D. in 1802.
He worked as physician near Stockholm
until the mine-owner Wilhelm Hisinger
discovered his analytical abilities and
provided him with a laboratory. Between
1808 and 1836, Berzelius worked together
with Anna Sundström, who acted as his
assistant.[4]
In 1807, Berzelius was appointed
professor in chemistry and pharmacy at
the Karolinska Institute.

In 1808, he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. At
this time, the Academy had been
stagnating for several years, since the era
of romanticism in Sweden had led to less
interest in the sciences. In 1818, Berzelius
was elected the Academy's secretary and
held the post until 1848. During Berzelius'
tenure, he is credited with revitalising the
Academy and bringing it into a second
golden era (the first being the astronomer
Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin's period as
secretary from 1749 to 1783).[5] He was
elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1822.[6] In 1827, he became
correspondent of the Royal Institute of the
Netherlands, and in 1830 associate
member.[7] In 1837, he was elected a
member of the Swedish Academy, on chair
number 5.

Achievements
Law of definite proportions
Daguerreotype of Berzelius.

Not long after arriving to Stockholm he

wrote a chemistry textbook for his medical
students, from which point a long and
fruitful career in chemistry began. In 1813,
he published an essay on the proportions
of elements in compounds. The essay
commenced with a general description,
introduced his new symbolism, examined
all the known elements, included a table of
specific weights, and finished with a
selection of compounds written in his new
formalisation.[8] In 1818, he compiled a
table of relative atomic weights, where
oxygen was set to 100, and which included
all of the elements known at the time.[9]
This work provided evidence in favour of
the atomic theory proposed by John
Dalton: that inorganic chemical
compounds are composed of atoms
combined in whole number amounts. In
discovering that atomic weights are not
integer multiples of the weight of
hydrogen, Berzelius also disproved Prout's
hypothesis that elements are built up from
atoms of hydrogen.
Chemical notation

In order to aid his experiments, he

developed a system of chemical notation
in which the elements were given simple
written labels—such as O for oxygen, or Fe
for iron—with proportions noted by
numbers. This is the same system used
today, the only difference being that
instead of the subscript number used
today (e.g., H2O), Berzelius used a
superscript (H2O).[10]

Discovery of elements
Berzelius is credited with identifying the
chemical elements silicon, selenium,
thorium, and cerium. Students working in
Berzelius's laboratory also discovered
lithium and vanadium.

New chemical terms

Berzelius is credited with originating the

chemical terms "catalysis," "polymer,"
"isomer," and "allotrope," although his
original definitions differ dramatically from
modern usage. As an example, he coined
the term "polymer" in 1833 to describe
organic compounds which shared
identical empirical formulas but which
differed in overall molecular weight, the
larger of the compounds being described
as "polymers" of the smallest. At this time
the concept of chemical structure had not
yet been developed so that he considered
only the numbers of atoms of each
element, and viewed for example glucose
(C6H12O6) as a polymer of formaldehyde
(CH2O) contrary to modern usage.
Berzelius also developed electrochemical
dualism.

Biology

Berzelius was the first person to make the

distinction between organic compounds
(those containing carbon), and inorganic
compounds. In particular, he advised
Gerardus Johannes Mulder in his
elemental analyses of organic compounds
such as coffee, tea, and various proteins.
The term protein itself was coined by
Berzelius, after Mulder observed that all
proteins seemed to have the same
empirical formula and came to the
erroneous conclusion that they might be
composed of a single type of very large
molecule. Berzelius proposed the name
because the material seemed to be the
primitive substance of animal nutrition
that plants prepare for herbivores.
Vitalism

Berzelius stated in 1810 that living things

work by some mysterious "vital force",[11] a
hypothesis called vitalism. Related to this,
he proposed that compounds could be
distinguished by whether they required any
organisms in their manufacture (organic
compounds) or whether they did not
(inorganic compounds). However, in 1828,
Friedrich Wöhler accidentally obtained
urea, an organic compound, by heating
ammonium cyanate. Contrary to a
widespread myth, it was not the end of this
vitalist hypothesis, let alone vitalism in
general. But in 1845, Adolph Wilhelm
Hermann Kolbe prepared acetic acid from
inorganic precursors, and in the 1850s,
Marcellin Berthelot synthesized numerous
organic compounds from inorganic
precursors, providing abundant
counterevidence. The Fischer–Tropsch
process for making hydrocarbons, the
Miller–Urey experiment and other
prebiotic-chemistry experiments, and
biosynthesis pathways provide even more
counterevidence.

Relations with other

scientists
Berzelius was a prolific correspondent
with such leading scientists as Gerardus
Johannes Mulder, Claude Louis Berthollet,
Humphry Davy, Friedrich Wöhler and
Eilhard Mitscherlich.

After denying that chlorine is an element

(which was proposed by Humphry Davy in
1810) for quite some time, the dispute was
ended by the finding of iodine in 1812.

Family

Statue of Berzelius in the center of Berzelii Park

Statue of Berzelius in the center of Berzelii Park,
Stockholm

In 1818 Berzelius was ennobled by King

Carl XIV Johan; in 1835, at the age of 56,
he married Elisabeth Poppius, the 24-year-
old daughter of a Swedish cabinet
minister, and in the same year was
elevated to friherre.[12]

Berzeliusskolan, a school situated next to

his alma mater, Katedralskolan, is named
for him. In 1939 his portrait appeared on a
series of postage stamps commemorating
the bicentenary of the founding of the
Swedish Academy of Sciences.
He died on 7 August 1848 at his home in
Stockholm, where he had lived since
1806.[13]

Honours
1840: Knight of the Order of Leopold.[14]

References
1. "Jöns Jacob Berzelius" . Encyclopædia
Britannica Online. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
2. Berzelius Day honoured on YouTube
3. Berzelius, Jöns Jakob. Jakob Berzelius:
Selbstbiographische Aufzeichnungen.
Forgotten Books. ISBN 1332586104.
4. Karolinska Institutet 200 År – 1810–
2010
5. Centre for History of Science at the Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences: KVA och
Berzelius Archived 19 August 2007 at the
Wayback Machine., accessed 23 May 2009
(in Swedish)
6. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter
B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
7. "Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779 - 1848)" .
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
8. Berzelius, Jacob (1813), Thomson,
Thomas, ed., "Essay on the Cause of
Chemical Proportions, and on some
Circumstances relating to them: together
with a short and easy Method of expressing
them" , Annals of Philosophy, London:
Robert Baldwin, II & III, pp 443 – 454 & pp
51 – 62, 93 – 106, 244 – 256, 353 – 364,
retrieved 13 December 2014 also Vol III
9. NationalEncyklopedin. Höganäs,
Sweden: Bra Böcker AB. 1990. p. 484.
ISBN 91-7024-619-X.
10. Berzelius 1813, Vol III, pp 51 – 52.
11. Cornish-Bawden, Athel, ed. (1997), New
Beer in an Old Bottle. Eduard Buchner and
the Growth of Biochemical Knowledge ,
Universitat de València, pp. 72–73,
ISBN 9788437033280
12. Biographical Dictionary of Scientists ed.
T. I. Williams. London: A. & C. Black, 1969;
pp. 55–56
13. "Berzelius, Johan Jakob, Baron".
Chamber's Biographical Dictionary 1897.
14. Almanach royal officiel de
Belgique/1841 p118

Further reading
Jaime Wisniak (2000). "Jöns Jacob
Berzelius A Guide to the Perplexed
Chemist". The Chemical Educator. 5 (6):
343–350.
doi:10.1007/s00897000430a .
Paul Walden (1947). "Zum 100.
Todestag von Jöns Jakob Berzelius am
7. August 1948". Naturwissenschaften.
34 (11): 321–327.
Bibcode:1947NW.....34..321W .
doi:10.1007/BF00644137 .
Holmberg, Arne (1933) Bibliografi över J.
J. Berzelius. 2 parts in 5 vol. Stockholm:
Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien,
1933–67. 1. del och suppl. 1–2. Tryckta
arbeten av och om Berzelius. 2. del och
suppl. Manuskript
Jorpes, J. Erik (1966) Jac. Berzelius –
his life and work; translated from the
Swedish manuscript by Barbara Steele.
Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1966.
(Reissued by University of California
Press, Berkeley, 1970 ISBN 0-520-01628-
9)
Leicester, Henry (1970–80). "Berzelius,
Jöns Jacob". Dictionary of Scientific
Biography. 2. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons. pp. 90–97. ISBN 978-0-
684-10114-9.
 Partington, J. R. (1964) History of
Chemistry; vol. 4. London: Macmillan;
pp. 142–77

External links
Wikisource has the text of a 1911
Encyclopædia Britannica article about
Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

Wikimedia Commons has media related

to Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

List of works by Berzelius (301 items as

of access date 2011-12-29)
Online works at Project Runeberg (in
Latin)
Works by Jöns Jakob Berzelius at
Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Jöns Jacob
Berzelius at Internet Archive
Online correspondence between
Berzelius and Sir Humphry Davy on
Wikisource (in English) (in French)
Online works on Gallica (in French) (in
Swedish) (27 items as of access date
2011-12-29)
Nordisk familjebok (1905), band 3, s.
90–96 (in Swedish)
Poliakoff, Martyn. Jöns Jacob
Berzelius . University of Nottingham:
The Periodic Table of Videos.
Digital edition of "Lehrbuch der Chemie"
1823/1824 by the University and State
Library Düsseldorf
Digital edition of "Das saidschitzer
Bitterwasser : chemisch untersucht"
1840 by the University and State Library
Düsseldorf
Digital edition of "Aus Jac. Berzelius'
und Gustav Magnus' Briefwechsel in den
Jahren 1828 - 1847" 1900 by the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
 "Berzelius, Johan Jakob". The
American Cyclopædia. 1879.
 Cultural offices

Swedish
Preceded by Succeeded by
Academy,
Carl von Johan Erik
Seat No.5
Rosenstein Rydqvist
1837-48

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