JULIUS LOTHAR MEYER: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE - SCIENCE - 2025

Julius Lothar Meyer (1830 - 1895) was a German chemist, teacher, and physician. His main work was a work in which he described the origin of the periodic table of the elements. However, his discovery was half recognized, and the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev presented the same theory simultaneously and took almost all the honors.

Although there are frequent cases of parallel investigations without the scientists being aware of the work of their other colleagues, it is not so frequent to reach such similar conclusions at the same time. In any case, that was what happened that time, presenting both tables very similar.

Meyer, who seemed destined to be a doctor by family tradition, was on the verge of not being able to complete his studies for health reasons. Fortunately, he recovered and had the opportunity to graduate as a doctor, then working with Robert Bunsen.

He served as a chemistry professor at the university and was a professor of natural sciences. He presented his greatest contribution to science in 1864, although he refined his theory and republished it 5 years later. Despite not being fully recognized for his most important work, he received several awards in life for his scientific contributions.

Biography

Julius Lothar Meyer was born on August 19, 1830 in Varel, Oldenburg, a town that is now part of Germany. He was the fourth of seven children and was educated in Lutheranism.

Given his family background, he seemed destined to become a doctor: his father was, as was his maternal grandfather. That is why both he and another of his brothers focus their studies on this discipline.

First studies

From his early years, Meyer receives a quality education. She first studies in a newly created private school in her city, and these teachings are complemented by attending other private centers to learn Latin and Greek.

However, an event was about to prevent him from continuing to study. Meyer had quite a few health problems and suffered from severe migraines.

When Meyer was 14 years old, his father decided that he should quit his studies and sent him to work as a garden assistant in a noble palace. He wanted the natural environment and stop trying intellectually to alleviate the young man's sufferings.

Whatever it was, Meyer's health improved a lot after a year tending the gardens and he was able to resume his training by entering the Gymnasium.

His graduation took place in 1851. As an anecdote, it can be noted that after this experience he had a great love of gardening, a practice that he never abandoned.

college

The same year that he graduated from the Gymnasium, Meyer began his university studies. As it could not be less, he entered the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zurich.

Two courses later he moved to Würzburg, interested in the work of the considered father of modern pathology, Rudolf Virchow, who taught there.

After winning the title the following year, Meyer made a change in his career and decided to go to Heidelberg to study physiological chemistry. There he meets another famous scientist of his time: Professor Robert Bunsen.

He is so interested in the subject that he stays in college working after graduation. Meanwhile he obtained his doctorate from the University of Breslau in 1858, presenting a thesis on carbon monoxide present in the blood.

College professor

One of Meyer's great passions was teaching. For this reason, after presenting his thesis, he began to teach in Breslau as a medical teacher. Likewise, he was offered the direction of the chemistry laboratory at the Institute of Physiology.

The same year he married, in 1866, he changed his workplace and moved to the School of Forestry. Two years later he obtained the post of professor of chemistry and director of the corresponding laboratory at the Polytechnic Institute of Karlsruhe.

Last years and death

As a true lover of his profession, Meyer never stopped working and incorporating new skills. When the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, he recovered his role as a doctor and organized an emergency hospital at the same Polytechnic Institute.

Already in his last years he became rector of the University of Tübingen, and died on April 11, 1895.

Contributions to science by Lothar Meyer

Paradoxically, the greatest contribution made by Meyer to science was the one that brought him the least fame. In any case, his work was one of those that helped create the periodic table of the elements.

His studies on how blood and the carbon dioxide present in it are related are also known. Finally, he highlighted his research on benzene, being the discoverer of some of its characteristics.

Periodic law

Without a doubt, Julius Lothar Meyer's most outstanding contribution was the development of the Periodic Law, fundamental for the creation of the modern table of elements.

His first work on the subject came in 1864, when he published the book Modern Theories of Chemistry. This treatise was quite successful, it was translated into several languages ​​and had five editions.

Meyer had been working on this issue for some years now. Her biographers claim that it began four years before the book was published, when she was attending a conference in Karlsruhe.

At that meeting another scientist had vindicated the so-called Avigrado hypothesis, and Meyer decided to take it as a basis for starting his research.

In the work he published, you could already see a table with 28 elements and several blank spaces awaiting the discovery of others, which Meyer guessed must exist.

The order of these elements was given by the valences and atomic weights, and they were related to each other depending on their similar properties.

After this book he continued to improve his theory and in 1869 he had a new, improved version ready. It was then that he discovered that another scientist, the Russian Mendeleev, had developed an investigation very similar to his, drawing up his own table with many coincidences.

Despite this simultaneity, the truth is that the Russian's received more recognition, perhaps because it managed to place all the known elements, including hydrogen.

Atomic weight

Back in Tübingen, in his last years of work, Meyer published the best work on atomic weights developed up to that date.

During that time he was able to unite his two main passions: chemistry and teaching. Thus, in addition to publishing his discoveries, he also directed the theses of some 60 students.

Recognitions

Among the many recognitions that Meyer received for his contributions to science is the Davy Medal, awarded by the Royal Society of London together with his colleague and rival Mendeleev.

He was also made an honorary member of the British Chemical Society and a member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Finally, he received a title of nobility from the crown in 1892.

References

1. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Meyer, Julius Lothar. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
2. Periodic table. Meyer. Retrieved from xtec.cat
3. Science history institute. Julius Lothar Meyer and Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev. Retrieved from sciencehistory.org
4. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Lothar Meyer. Retrieved from britannica.com
5. The biography. Biography of Julius Lothar Meyer. Retrieved from thebiography.us
6. Esteban Santos, Soledad. The History Of The Periodic System. Recovered from books.google.es