JAN BAPTISTA VAN HELMONT: BIOGRAPHY, EXPERIMENT, CONTRIBUTIONS - ARTE - 2024

Jan Baptista van Helmont (1580-1644) was a Belgian alchemist, physiologist, chemist, physician, and physicist who dedicated his life to science. Although he excelled mainly in chemistry, he was a participant in various experiments and discoveries in the area of ​​medicine. He obtained his doctorate at the age of 20 at the University of Louvain.

His days were spent spinning knowledge of medicine with other areas then little related, such as chemistry, physics and alchemy. Thanks to this loom, he gave a different approach to the study of the digestive system, with conclusive results on the effects of various chemical principles. Years later, this earned him the title of father of biochemistry.

Jan van Helmont is credited with inventing the term "gas." Source: Eze27

He was one of the first scientists to study gases and their behavior, being also the father of pneumatic chemistry, to which he dedicated a large part of his life. Observing the properties of various substances, he came to the conclusion that they differed from air, thus breaking all the paradigms of the time.

He discovered nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide and multiplied the existing knowledge about the properties of other gases. His contributions are so extensive that he is credited with the invention of the word "gas."

Some writings attribute to him incursions in the areas of theology, astronomy and botany. After studying a weeping willow for five years, he contributed a theory about water as the only element, which was accepted by the scientific community for several years.

Biography

Jan Baptista van Helmont (or Johannes Baptista Van der Helmont in his native language) was born in Brussels, Spanish Netherlands, in 1579. There is no clarity on the date of his birth, as it is most often found in literature that it was 12 January, but some sources defend August 6 as the day of his birth.

His mother, Maria van Stassaert, welcomed him into a noble family as the youngest of five siblings; Jan was the second male of the dynasty.

His father was Christiaen van Helmont, who held a political position as State Councilor of Brabant, which allowed him to make a name for himself and support his family of seven. He died the same year Jan was born.

Studies

It is estimated that Jan Baptista van Helmont began his studies in the humanities at the young age of 16 and a year later he was teaching medicine. In 1594 he completed his first course in basic science and philosophy.

In 1596 he decided to open up to the European continent, visiting countries such as Italy, Switzerland, England and France, where he nurtured his interest in philosophy, alchemy and theology, deepening his knowledge in the sciences inspired by the works of contemporary scientists William Harvey and Galileo Galilei.

During the academic break, he was kept in constant philosophical training at the Jesuit college, for whom the restriction on teaching had barely been lifted.

He always had a certain rejection of the educational system, but he never abandoned his training. He received his medical degree in 1599 and practiced medicine in Antwerp, precisely during the plague that struck the region in 1605. Ten years after his first degree, he graduated as a doctor of medicine.

Marriage and religiosity

In the early 17th century he met Marguerite Van Ranst, whom he married in 1609. This made him lord of Merode, Royenborch, Oorschot and Pellines.

He settled in Vilvoorde, on the outskirts of Brussels, and from the union with Marguerite he had six children. Once the union was established, his wife inherited a significant fortune, which allowed him to move away from medicine and spend most of his time experimenting in the area of ​​chemistry.

Van Helmont was a Catholic man who was always linked to religion. However, it is known that he questioned some miracles and refused to use the intervention of superior forces in the explanation of natural phenomena and healing of diseases. This earned him several house arrests.

Research

Between 1610 and 1620 he devoted himself to studying the properties of materials, reaching decisive conclusions for the field of chemistry.

He dedicated a period of his life to studying digestion, obtaining an important approach to the behavior of the stomach and the existence of an additional substance (gastric juices) that allowed food to dissolve. Two centuries later these theories served as a guide for the discovery of enzymes.

Van Helmont lived at the same time as William Harvey and Galileo Galilei, from whom he inherited some ideas for his own experiments.

Death

As for his family circle, it is believed that one of his children died during the plague, but no records are kept of what happened.

Nor is the reason for his death known, only that he died on December 30, 1644. One of his sons was in charge of unifying his father's work, editing it and publishing it in the book Origins of medicine (Ortusmedicinae) four years after the last goodbye to his father.

Experiments

Jan Baptista van Helmont can be considered a scientist before any other occupation. His work can be separated into different blocks, but he always used the scientific method and the systematic recording of his results as his main ally.

Pneumatic chemistry

This researcher dedicated a lot of time studying and observing the behavior of the elements of the air. In principle, he took firewood and placed it in a controlled environment before lighting it on fire.

In doing so, he was able to observe the emissions produced by combustion and distinguish carbonic and sulfurous acids, among others. Van Helmont is credited with the discovery of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

Likewise, he treated with acid some materials such as limestone, coal and wood, among others, being able to reach a first approximation of the different elements that exist in processes such as combustion and chemical reactions.

These analyzes allowed him to determine that air is made up of gases that are different from each other, which broke the paradigm that air was completely homogeneous. Van Helmont evaluated the properties of gas and steam to be able to classify different elements.

Weeping willow

One of van Helmont's best-known experiments was to plant a weeping willow tree and observe its behavior for five years. He recorded the weight of the plant on the first day and compared it to the weight at the end of the experiment. He did the same with the soil that contained the bush.

He was able to point out that the tree had increased in weight more than fifty times, while the earth had lost a few grams between the two measurements.

He concluded that the four elements (earth, water, air and fire) should be reduced only to water, since it represented the majority of all the elements. This theory was valid among scientists for almost a hundred years.

Digestion

For these experiments, he combined his knowledge of medicine with that of chemistry and developed studies on gastric-chemical functions. In this sense, he considered that the theory of digestion by internal heat of organisms was annulled when trying to explain how amphibians managed to survive.

He derived this analysis in determining that there was some chemical element in the stomach that allowed food to be dissolved and processed by the body.

In this way, he came to the conclusion of the existence of gastric juices as a fundamental part of nutrition and digestion. These studies served as the basis for the discovery of the enzymes years later.

Spontaneous generation

In his forays into philosophy and theology, he had various questions about the origin of organisms.

For van Helmont, leaving wheat-sweaty underwear in a wide-mouth container caused a chemical reaction that swapped wheat for mice that could reproduce with other mice, born normally or through spontaneous generation.

Although it seems innocent to take these conclusions as true, these arguments were valid for more than 200 years.

Other contributions and implications

- In many areas of science, van Helmont is considered a pioneer. He is attributed the title of "discoverer of gases", not only for determining their existence but also for being the one who used the word "gas" for the first time to name them.

- He was also called the father of biochemistry for his studies on digestion and chemical processes in the human body.

- It contributed significantly to the studies of the principle of the conservation of matter, not only determining that the gaseous products of combustion were different from atmospheric gases, but that these products had a mass that in all cases was equal to the loss of weight of the burned item.

- He had important contributions in pharmacy, not only in the management of chemical substances but also in the discovery of medicinal waters with a high content of carbonic acid and alkalis.

- He is credited with the discovery of asthma as a respiratory condition in which the smaller bronchi contract and oxygen uptake is difficult.

- One of van Helmont's sons compiled and edited his texts, publishing them under the title Origins of medicine (Ortusmedicinaeid estinitiaphisicae inaudita) in 1648. The book consisted mainly of theories of alchemy and medicine, and served as a basis for expanding the conservative view of many scientists of the time

- In 1682 under the title Opera Omnia in Frankfurt, a compilation of his works was again printed.

References

1. A "The Chemical Philosophy" (1977) in Google Books. Retrieved on June 11, 2019 in Google Books: books.google.co.ve
2. "Jan Baptista van Helmont" in Ecured. Retrieved on June 11, 2019 from Ecured: ecured.cu
3. "Jan Baptist van Helmont" in Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on June 11, 2019 from Encyclopedia Britannica: britannica.com
4. "Van Helmont, Jan Baptista" in Mednaturis. Retrieved on June 11, 2019 from Mednaturis: mednaturis.com
5. Tomé, C. "Jan van Helmont, philosopher by fire (1)" in Notebook of Scientific Culture. Retrieved on June 11, 2019 from Notebook of Scientific Culture: culturacientifica.com
6. "Van Helmont, Jan Baptist" in Science for the Contemporary World. Retrieved on June 11, 2019 from Sciences for the Contemporary World: Gobiernodecanarias.org