Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; by himself and his contemporaries named only Jacob Berzelius, 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...

, John Dalton, and

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

chemistry. Berzelius became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1808 and served from 1818 as its principal functionary. He is known in Sweden as the "Father of Swedish Chemistry". Berzelius Day is celebrated on 20 August in honour of him. Although Berzelius began his career as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, his enduring contributions were in the fields of

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with the potential difference as an outco ...

chemical bonding A chemical bond is a lasting attraction between atoms or ions that enables the formation of molecules and crystals. The bond may result from the electrostatic force between oppositely charged ions as in ionic bonds, or through the sharing o ...

and stoichiometry. In particular, he is noted for his determination of atomic weights and his experiments that led to a more complete understanding of the principles of stoichiometry, which is the branch of chemistry pertaining to the quantitative relationships between elements in chemical compounds and chemical reactions and that these occur in definite proportions. This understanding came to be known as the "Law of Constant Proportions". Berzelius was a strict empiricist, expecting that any new theory must be consistent with the sum of contemporary chemical knowledge. He developed improved methods of chemical analysis, which were required to develop the basic data in support of his work on stoichiometry. He investigated isomerism,

allotropy Allotropy or allotropism () is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state, known as allotropes of the elements. Allotropes are different structural modifications of an element: the ...

, and

catalysis Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

, phenomena that owe their names to him. Berzelius was among the first to articulate the differences between

inorganic compounds In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemi ...

and

organic compounds In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The s ...

. Among the many minerals and elements he studied, he is credited with discovering

cerium Cerium is a chemical element with the symbol Ce and atomic number 58. Cerium is a soft, ductile, and silvery-white metal that tarnishes when exposed to air. Cerium is the second element in the lanthanide series, and while it often shows the +3 ...

and

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

, and with being the first to isolate

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ta ...

and

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...

. Following on his interest in mineralogy, Berzelius synthesized and chemically characterized new compounds of these and other elements. Berzelius demonstrated the use of an

electrochemical cell An electrochemical cell is a device capable of either generating electrical energy from chemical reactions or using electrical energy to cause chemical reactions. The electrochemical cells which generate an electric current are called voltaic o ...

to decompose certain chemical compounds into pairs of electrically opposite constituents. From this research, he articulated a theory that came to be known as

electrochemical dualism Electrochemical dualism is an obsolete scientific theory in chemistry relevant between around 1800 and around 1830 and pioneered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius.''Jöns Jacob Berzelius'', Richard A. Pizzi, Today's Chemist At Work, 2004, page 58 The theory ...

, contending that chemical compounds are oxide salts, bonded together by

electrostatic interactions Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at Rest (physics), rest (static electricity). Since classical antiquity, classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles af ...

. This theory, while useful in some contexts, came to be seen as insufficient. Berzelius's work with

atomic weights Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A''; sometimes abbreviated RAM or r.a.m.), also known by the deprecated synonym atomic weight, is a dimensionless physical quantity A physical quantity is a physical property of a material or system that can be ...

and his theory of electrochemical dualism led to his development of a modern system of chemical formula notation that showed the composition of any compound both qualitatively and quantitatively. 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 the compound. Later, chemists changed to use of subscripts rather than superscripts.

Biography

Early life and education

Berzelius was born in the parish of Väversunda in Östergötland in Sweden. His father Samuel Berzelius was a school teacher in the nearby city of

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

, and his mother Elizabeth Dorothea Sjösteen was a homemaker. His parents were both from families of church pastors. Berzelius lost both his parents at an early age. His father died in 1779, after which his mother married a pastor named Anders Eckmarck, who gave Berzelius a basic education including knowledge of the

natural world ''Natural World'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series. It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British televis ...

. Following the death of his mother in 1787, relatives in Linköping took care of him. There he attended the school today known as Katedralskolan. As a teenager, he took a position as a tutor at a farm near his home, during which time he became interested in collecting flowers and insects and their classification. Berzelius later enrolled as a

medical student A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, from 1796 to 1801. Anders Gustaf Ekeberg, the discoverer of

tantalum Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as ''tantalium'', it is named after Tantalus, a villain in Greek mythology. Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that ...

, taught him chemistry during this time. He worked as an apprentice in a pharmacy, during which time he also learned practical matters in the laboratory such as glassblowing. On his own during his studies, he successfully repeated the experimentation conducted by Swedish chemist Carl William Scheele which led to Scheele's discovery of

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

. He also worked with a physician in the

Medevi Medevi Brunn is Scandinavia's oldest spa, located in Motala Municipality on the eastern shore of Lake Vättern, in north-west Östergötland, Sweden. History The spa was founded in 1678 by Count Gustaf Soop and the royal doctor Urban Hjärn ...

mineral springs. During this time, he conducted an analysis of the water from this source. Additionally as part of his studies, in 1800, Berzelius learned about Alessandro Volta's electric pile, the first device that could provide a constant electric current (i.e., the first battery). He constructed a similar battery for himself, consisting of alternating disks of copper and zinc, and this was his initial work in the field of electrochemistry. As thesis research in his medical studies, he examined the influence of

galvanic current Galvanic (after Luigi Galvani) may refer to: * Galvanic anode * Galvanic bath * Galvanic cell * Galvanic corrosion * Galvanic current * Galvanic isolation * Galvanic series * Galvanic skin response * Galvanic vestibular stimulation * Galvanism * ...

on several diseases. This line of experimentation produced no clear-cut evidence for such influence. Berzelius graduated as a medical doctor in 1802. He worked as a physician near Stockholm until the chemist and mine-owner

Wilhelm Hisinger Wilhelm Hisinger (23 December 1766 – 28 June 1852) was a Swedish physicist and chemist who in 1807, working in coordination with Jöns Jakob Berzelius, noted that in electrolysis any given substance always went to the same pole, and that substan ...

recognized his abilities as an

analytical chemist Analytical chemistry studies and uses instruments and methods to separate, identify, and quantify matter. In practice, separation, identification or quantification may constitute the entire analysis or be combined with another method. Separati ...

and provided him with a laboratory.

Academic career

In 1807, Berzelius was appointed professor in chemistry and pharmacy at the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led Medical school, medical university in Solna Municipality, Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. ...

. Between 1808 and 1836, Berzelius worked together with Anna Sundström, who acted as his assistant and was the first female chemist in Sweden. 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 Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

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 Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

, he is credited with revitalising the Academy and bringing it into a second golden era (the first being the astronomer

Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin ( Sunne parish, Jämtlands län 11 September 1717 ( OS) – Stockholm 13 December 1783), Swedish astronomer and demographer. Wargentin was the son of the vicar of Sunne Wilhelm Wargentin (1670–1735) and his spouse Ch ...

's period as secretary from 1749 to 1783). He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1822. In 1827, he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, and in 1830 associate member. In 1837, he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy, on chair number 5.

Temperance movement

Berzelius was active in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. Along with , ,

Anders Retzius Anders Adolph Retzius (13 October 1796 – 18 April 1860), was a Swedish professor of anatomy and a supervisor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Biography Retzius was born in Lund, Sweden, in 1796. He enrolled at Lund University in 1 ...

, Samuel Owen, George Scott, and others, he was one of the founders of the Svenska nykterhetssällskapet (the Swedish Temperance Society) in 1837 and its first chairman. Berzelius wrote the foreword to one of works on the topic, of which 50,000 copies were printed. Berzelius_Reseanteckningar_1903_frontespis

Berzelius_Reseanteckningar_1903_frontespis

Later life

Through much of his life, Berzelius suffered various medical ailments. These included recurrent

migraine headaches Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

and then later on he suffered from

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

. He also had episodes of depression. In 1818, Berzelius had a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

, said to be due to the stress of his work. The medical advice he received was to travel and take vacation. However, during this time, Berzelius traveled to France to work in the chemical laboratories of

Claude Louis Berthollet Claude Louis Berthollet (, 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to theory of chemical equilibria via the mecha ...

. In 1835, at the age of 56, he married Elizabeth Poppius, the 24-year-old daughter of a Swedish cabinet minister. He died on 7 August 1848 at his home in Stockholm, where he had lived since 1806. He is buried in the Solna Cemetery. Jöns_Jacob_Berzelius

Achievements

Law of definite proportions

Soon after arriving in Stockholm, Berzelius wrote a chemistry textbook for his medical students, ''Lärbok i Kemien'', which was his first significant scientific publication. He had conducted experimentation, in preparation for writing this textbook, on the compositions of inorganic compounds, which was his earliest work on definite proportions. 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 formalism. In 1818, he compiled a table of relative atomic weights, where

was set to 100, and which included all of the elements known at the time. This work provided evidence in favour of the

atomic theory Atomic theory is the scientific theory that matter is composed of particles called atoms. Atomic theory traces its origins to an ancient philosophical tradition known as atomism. According to this idea, if one were to take a lump of matter ...

proposed by John Dalton: that inorganic chemical compounds are composed of atoms of different elements 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 Prout's hypothesis was an early 19th-century attempt to explain the existence of the various chemical elements through a hypothesis regarding the internal structure of the atom. In 1815 and 1816, the English chemist William Prout published two p ...

that elements are built up from atoms of hydrogen. Berzelius's last revised version of his atomic weight tables was first published in a German translation of his ''Textbook of Chemistry'' in 1826.

Chemical notation

In order to aid his experiments, he developed a system of chemical notation in which the elements composing any particular chemical compound were given simple written labels—such as O for oxygen, or Fe for

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

—with their proportions in the chemical compound denoted by numbers. Berzelius thus invented the system of chemical notation still used today, the main difference being that instead of the subscript numbers used today (e.g., H₂O or Fe₂O₃), Berzelius used superscripts (H²O or Fe²O³).

Discovery of elements

Berzelius is credited with discovering the

chemical element A chemical element is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their nuclei, including the pure substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler sub ...

and

and with being the first to isolate

and

. Berzelius discovered

in 1803 and

in 1817. Berzelius discovered how to isolate

in 1824, and

in 1824. Students working in Berzelius's laboratory also discovered

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid ...

lanthanum Lanthanum is a chemical element with the symbol La and atomic number 57. It is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air. It is the eponym of the lanthanide series, a group of 15 similar elements between lant ...

, and vanadium. Berzelius discovered silicon by repeating an experiment performed by Gay-Lussac and Thénard. In the experiment, Berzelius reacted

silicon tetrafluoride Silicon tetrafluoride or tetrafluorosilane is a chemical compound with the formula Si F4. This colorless gas is notable for having a narrow liquid range: its boiling point is only 4 °C above its melting point. It was first prepared in 1771 ...

with potassium metal and then purified its product by washing it until it became a brown powder. Berzelius recognized this brown powder as the new element of silicon, which he called silicium, a name proposed earlier by Davy. Berzelius was the first to isolate

zirconium Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name ''zirconium'' is taken from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian '' zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'' ...

in 1824, but pure zirconium was not produced until 1925, by Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer.

New chemical terms

Berzelius is credited with originating the chemical terms "

", "

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

," " isomer," "

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

" and " allotrope," although his original definitions in some cases differ significantly from modern usage. As an example, he coined the term "polymer" in 1833 to describe organic compounds which shared identical

empirical formula In chemistry, the empirical formula of a chemical compound is the simplest whole number ratio of atoms present in a compound. A simple example of this concept is that the empirical formula of sulfur monoxide, or SO, would simply be SO, as is the ...

s 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 A chemical structure determination includes a chemist's specifying the molecular geometry and, when feasible and necessary, the electronic structure of the target molecule or other solid. Molecular geometry refers to the spatial arrangement of ...

had not yet been developed so that he considered only the numbers of atoms of each element. In this way, he viewed for example

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, u ...

(C₆H₁₂O₆) as a polymer of

formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section ...

(CH₂O), even though we now know that glucose is not a polymer of the

monomer In chemistry, a monomer ( ; '' mono-'', "one" + ''-mer'', "part") is a molecule that can react together with other monomer molecules to form a larger polymer chain or three-dimensional network in a process called polymerization. Classification ...

formaldehyde.

Biology and organic chemistry

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 Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

, and various

s. The term ''protein'' itself was coined by Berzelius, in 1838, after Mulder observed that all proteins seemed to have the same

and came to the erroneous conclusion that they might be composed of a single type of very large

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

. The term is derived from the Greek, meaning "of the first rank", and Berzelius proposed the name because proteins were so fundamental to living organisms. In 1808, Berzelius discovered that

lactic acid Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has a molecular formula . It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as well as nat ...

occurs in muscle tissue, not just in milk. The term biliverdin was coined by Berzelius in 1840, although he preferred "bilifulvin" (yellow/red) over "bilirubin" (red).

Vitalism

Berzelius stated in 1810 that living things work by some mysterious "vital force", a hypothesis called

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

. Vitalism had first been proposed by prior researchers, although Berzelius contended that compounds could be distinguished by whether they required any organisms in their synthesis (

) or whether they did not (

). However, in 1828, Friedrich Wöhler accidentally obtained

urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important ...

, an organic compound, by heating

ammonium cyanate Ammonium cyanate is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a colorless, solid salt. Structure and reactions The structure of this salt was verified by X-ray crystallography. The respective C–O and C–N distances are 1.174(8) and 1.1 ...

. This showed that an organic compound such as urea could be prepared synthetically and not exclusively by living organisms. Berzelius corresponded with Wöhler on the urea synthesis findings. However, the notion of vitalism continued to persist, until further work on abiotic synthesis of organic compounds provided substantial evidence against vitalism.

Works

* * *
Lärbok i kemien
(in Swedish). Stockholm, Nordström, 1808-1830.
Tabell, som utvisar vigten af större delen vid den oorganiska Kemiens studium märkvärdiga enkla och sammansatta kroppars atomer, jemte deras sammansättning, räknad i procent
(in Swedish). Stockholm : H.A. Nordström, 1818. Berzelius-4

Relations with other scientists

Berzelius was a prolific correspondent with leading scientists of his time, such as Gerardus Johannes Mulder,

Humphry Davy Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...

, Friedrich Wöhler, Eilhard Mitscherlich and Christian Friedrich Schönbein. In 1812, Berzelius traveled to London, England, including

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

to meet with prominent British scientists of the time. These included Humphry Davy, chemist

William Wollaston William Wollaston (; 26 March 165929 October 1724) was a school teacher, Church of England priest, scholar of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, theologian, and a major Enlightenment era English philosopher. He is remembered today for one book, which he ...

physician-scientist A physician-scientist is traditionally a holder of a medical degree and a doctor of philosophy also known as an MD-PhD. Compared to other clinicians, physician-scientists invest significant time and professional effort in scientific research an ...

Thomas Young, astronomer

William Herschel Frederick William Herschel (; german: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-born British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline ...

, chemist

Smithson Tennant Smithson Tennant FRS (30 November 1761 – 22 February 1815) was an English chemist. He is best known for his discovery of the elements iridium and osmium, which he found in the residues from the solution of platinum ores in 1803. He also con ...

, and inventor James Watt, among others. Berzelius also visited Davy's laboratory. After his visit to Davy's laboratory, Berzelius remarked, "A tidy laboratory is a sign of a lazy chemist." Humphry Davy in 1810 proposed that chlorine is an element. Berzelius rejected this claim because of his belief that all acids were based on oxygen, and HCl contains no oxygen and so could not be an element, in Berzelius's perception. However, in 1812,

Bernard Courtois Bernard Courtois, also spelled Barnard Courtois, (8 February 1777 – 27 September 1838) was a French chemist credited with first isolating iodine. By 1811 the Napoleonic Wars had made the government-controlled saltpeter business taper off sinc ...

proved that the isoelectronic substance iodine is an element. This finding resolved Berzelius's disagreement. Berzelius continued his investigations into the chemistry of chlorine during his stay in Claude Louis Berthollet's laboratory.

Honors and recognition

In 1818 Berzelius was ennobled by King Carl XIV Johan. In 1835, he received the title of

friherre (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

. In 1820 he was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. The

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

gave Berzelius the Copley Medal in 1836 with the citation "For his systematic application of the doctrine of definite proportions to the analysis of mineral bodies, as contained in his Nouveau Systeme de Mineralogie, and in other of his works." In 1840, Berzelius was named Knight of the Order of Leopold. In 1842, he received the honor

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...

for Sciences and Arts. Berzelianite, Calcite-361052

The mineral

berzelianite Berzelianite is a rare copper selenide mineral with the formula Cu2 Se. It occurs as thin dendritic crusts or as fine-grained inclusions. It crystallizes in the isometric system, unlike its dimorph, bellidoite, which crystallizes in the tetrag ...

, a copper selenide, was discovered in 1850 and named after him by

James Dwight Dana James Dwight Dana FRS FRSE (February 12, 1813 – April 14, 1895) was an American geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist. He made pioneering studies of mountain-building, volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of continent ...

. In 1852, Stockholm, Sweden, built a public park and statue, both to honor Berzelius. Berzeliusskolan, a school situated next to his alma mater, Katedralskolan, is named for him. In 1890, a fairly prominent street in Gothenburg was named Berzeliigatan (Berzelii street) in his honour. In 1898, the Swedish Academy of Sciences opened the Berzelius Museum in honor of Berzelius. The holdings of the museum included many items from his laboratory. The museum was opened on the occasion of fiftieth anniversary of Berzelius's death. Invitees at the ceremony marking the occasion included scientific dignitaries from eleven European nations and the United States, many of whom gave formal addresses in honor of Berzelius. The Berzelius Museum was later moved to the observatory that is part of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1939 his portrait appeared on a series of postage stamps commemorating the bicentenary of the founding of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. In addition to Sweden, Grenada likewise honored him. The Berzelius secret society at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

is named in his honor.

References

External links

List of works by Berzelius
(301 items as of access date 2011-12-29)

at

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg ( sv, Projekt Runeberg) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded ...

* *
Online correspondence between Berzelius and Sir Humphry Davy
on

Wikisource Wikisource is an online digital library of free-content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project (each instance usually re ...

Online works
on Gallica (27 items as of access date 2011-12-29)
''Nordisk familjebok'' (1905), band 3, s. 90–96
*
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 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berzelius, Jons Jacob 1779 births 1848 deaths People from Vadstena Municipality Swedish chemists People involved with the periodic table Uppsala University alumni Karolinska Institute faculty Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Swedish Academy Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Discoverers of chemical elements Recipients of the Copley Medal Swedish nobility Foreign Members of the Royal Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 19th-century Swedish scientists 19th-century chemists Selenium Thorium Cerium Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Vitalists Rare earth scientists Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society Swedish temperance activists Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Solid state chemists