JÖNS JACOB BERZELIUS: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE, WORKS - ARTE - 2025

Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848) was a Swedish scientist, considered one of the most important chemists of his time and known for being a methodical experimenter. The construction of the theory of electrochemical dualism, the creation of the first list of atomic weights of the elements and the invention of chemical symbols were his most important works.

He is also credited with the discovery of a large number of chemical elements and is recognized for his contributions to the study of chemistry. These facts make him considered one of the most important figures in the development of modern chemistry.

Portrait of Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1836. Source: PH van den Heuvell, via Wikimedia Commons.

Biography

He was born on August 20, 1779, in Väversunda, Sweden. He was part of a well-educated family. He had a difficult childhood, as his father died of tuberculosis when Jöns was only four years old, in 1783. Shortly after, he also lost his mother, who died at age 40 in 1787.

Berzelius' care was left to his stepfather, Anders Ekmark, the vicar of Hedvig parish, with whom he had a good relationship until he remarried. His family consisted of the military, priests, officials and even pharmacists.

Berzelius acknowledged not having good memories of his childhood and decided to leave his stepfather's house as quickly as possible. This is what happened when he was able to start his studies in high school.

Berzelius was tall, with curly brown hair and blue eyes. In his youth he was considered a mature person, although stubborn and determined.

Education

In 1793 Jöns began his studies at Linköping Upper Secondary School. He had several problems completing his years of study due to financial problems and a teaching that was not the best for his interests.

He decided to dedicate himself to studying medicine, believing that as a doctor he could have a better future and then pursue his main interests. During this time he became a private tutor to the children of wealthy families.

In 1796 he began at the University of Uppsala thanks to a scholarship. Not very satisfied with everything he learned, he created his own laboratory at home and began to work on different chemical experiments. In 1798 he took his first chemistry course. In 1799 he was already working as a doctor, but he also began to study the composition of water.

He had some problems finishing his studies, as his scholarship was taken away from him. So he found himself having to ask one of his uncles for money, who found him a job as a doctor's apprentice.

He worked as an assistant professor at the Stockholm school of surgery and as a physician until he obtained the permanent position of professor in 1807. By achieving this he saw one of his objectives fulfilled, since he could now dedicate most of his time to research.

Personal life

His father was Samuel Berzelius and his mother Elisabet Dorotea. Jöns had a sister, Flora, who was younger than him. His parents were teachers at Linköping High School. Berzelius's mother remarried after the death of her first husband.

Berzelius married when he was 56 years old and he married Elisabeth (Betty) Johanna Poppius Berzelius, a young woman 32 years his junior. Betty was best known for being the daughter of one of the ministers who were part of the Swedish government. They never had children and always lived in the scientist's house in Stockholm.

At some point Berzelius even claimed that he had avoided marriage because he did not want it to interfere with his studies. After his marriage his publications and discoveries declined, but he spent a lot of time defending his theories from his detractors.

The same year in which he married (1835) he was awarded a title of nobility that existed in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a baron.

Death

He suffered from many health problems, which forced him to visit health centers continuously, even abroad. During the last years of his life, he was ill for a long time after having suffered a stroke, although he still tried to continue with his work.

In August 1848, both of his legs were paralyzed and he died on August 7 of the same year at his home in Stockholm, Sweden, when he was 68 years old. He passed away two weeks before his 69th birthday.

Contributions to science

Jöns Jacob Berzelius investigated, examined and described more than 200 chemical compounds known to that time. From 1820 his work focused more on systematizing his research and complementing some studies.

Berzelius discovered a multitude of elements, including lithium, selenium, and thorium. He was also responsible for describing the specific gravity of chemical substances and was in charge of establishing what became known as the electrochemical theory, where it was thought that the positive and negative forces of the elements could balance each other.

Berzelius worked most of his career alone and without any help. Many scholars question this, because they cannot understand how a man could carry out so much research and so much work.

He also worked in the area of ​​mineralogy, where he classified minerals by their chemical composition instead of by the type of crystal, which was as it was previously done.

While working on a medical book for his students, Berzelius began a series of experiments that made him famous, in which it was established that the elements present in inorganic substances were linked according to their weight. This is what is known as Proust's Law or the Law of Definite Proportions.

Berzelius's 1811 support for Proust's law brought it great acceptance among the scientific community.

Discovery of weights

Using his experimental results, he was able to determine the atomic weights of almost all the elements that were known at the time. He determined that the atomic numbers used by John Dalton were not precise enough to make Dalton's atomic theory practical to use.

For those reasons, he carried the burden of working and discovering the atomic weight of the elements that were known. Based on that, he recommended that oxygen be the standard element and not hydrogen as Dalton proposed.

His discoveries became even more important because the equipment in his laboratory was not the best, he had limited access to chemicals in Sweden, he paid for them himself, and he had no assistance.

Scientific notation system

Having to deal with so many elements motivated the creation of a symbol system that was logical and simple, which is basically the same system of scientific notation that is used today. Berzelius published his first table of atomic weights in 1814. Many of the values ​​are close to the standards used today.

The system he proposed consisted of giving each element a symbol. This symbol would be the initial of the name of the element, but in Latin, and this initial would be accompanied by another letter that had the name of the element in case the symbols were repeated. For example, this occurs in the cases of carbon (C), chlorine (Cl) or calcium (Ca).

Dualistic theory

His ideas gave rise to the dualist theory, which was quite popular during the first years of the 19th century. The ideas that this doctrine raised worked very well until the appearance of organic chemistry.

Plays

Berzelius's first article was written while he was still a student. It was a chemical analysis of mineral water collected in a health center in the area. He wrote other papers that he sent to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, but these were rejected and were not published.

He also published an article on the voltaic pile, with Wilhelm von Hisinger. It is here where Berzelius lets his ideas about dualist theory emerge.

Perhaps the most important work he published was his chemistry schoolbook. She did so when she was 30 years old and the first edition was considered a standard book that was present in all Swedish universities.

He also created the table of atomic weights and published his discoveries in magazines or books of the time.

Although there is no exact figure, it is said that he published more than 250 works throughout his life, including more than 20 books. It is said that he managed to cover almost every possible aspect of chemistry.

As the author and editor of his works he focused a lot on translating his works into various languages. Especially because of the importance of French, German and English as scientific languages.

Recognitions

A school located next to his alma mater was named in his honor. In 1939 her portrait illustrated a series of postage stamps that served to commemorate the bicentennial of the founding of the Academy of Sciences in Sweden.

In life, in addition to the title of baron, he obtained some distinctions such as that of Knight of the order of Leopold, for his services to science in 1840. He also received the Order of Merit of the Sciences and the Arts, which he received in Germany for his contributions to science.

References

1. Ball, P. (2001). Life's matrix. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press.
2. Jons Jacob Berzelius - discoverer of thorium & cerium elements. (2019).Recovered from worldofchemicals.com
3. Jöns Jakob Berzelius. (2017). Recovered from sciencehistory.org
4. Jöns Jakob Berzelius. Recovered from newworldencyclopedia.org
5. Melhado, E. Jöns Jacob Berzelius - Swedish chemist. Recovered from britannica.com