Bengt Aurivillius (4 December,

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

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 (Chu ...

– 2 May,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

in St. Peter's Parish,

Malmöhus County Malmöhus County ( sv, Malmöhus län) was a county of Sweden 1719–1996. On 1 January 1997 it was merged with Kristianstad County to form Skåne County. It had been named after Malmöhus, a castle in Malmö, which was also where the governor ...

) was a Swedish chemist known for his research in metal and mixed oxides.

Education and career

Aurivillius received his basic scientific education at the then

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, s ...

where he graduated in 1937 and earned a fil. lic. in 1943."Trio of professors appointed 'Monday's Council'", ''

Svenska Dagbladet ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of t ...

'' 1965-07-27, s.2 By 1949, he had made some important discoveries about the

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a ...

of mixed metals, which became quite prominent in the world of chemistry. He completed his dissertation, "X-ray Examinations of Bismuth Oxifluoride and Mixed Oxides with Trivalent

Bismuth Bismuth is a chemical element with the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs ...

", at

in 1951. Aurivillius joined the

Swedish National Defence Research Institute Swedish National Defence Research Institute ( sv, Försvarets forskningsanstalt, FOA) was a Swedish government agency in defense research existing from 1945 to 31 December 2000. It was amalgamated with the National Aeronautical Research Institute ...

in 1952, where he worked first as a research engineer and later senior researcher. By 1960, Aurivillius was a

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

of physical chemistry and acting senior lecturer at the

. In 1965, he was appointed professor of

inorganic chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with synthesis and behavior of inorganic and organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subjects of organic chemistry. The distinction between the two disc ...

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion crystallography Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wo ...

alongside his wife,

Karin Aurivillius Karin Aurivillius (1920–1982) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist and crystallographer at the University of Lund, Sweden. She determined the crystal structures of many mercury compounds. During the 1960s, she helped develop crystallography in Sweden ...

Scientific research

Aurivillius is known for his study on bismuth compounds, including bismuth sesquioxide (Bi₂O₃) and bismuth layer structured ferroelectrics based on the oxide

perovskite Perovskite (pronunciation: ) is a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate (chemical formula ). Its name is also applied to the class of compounds which have the same type of crystal structure In crystallography, crystal ...

structure, which was later named after him as the

Aurivillius phases Aurivillius phases are a form of perovskite represented by the general formulae is ( Bi2 O2)(A''n''−1B''n''O3''n''+1) (where A is a large 12 co-ordinate cation, and B is a small 6 co-ordinate cation). Basically, their structure is built by alter ...

. He characterized the ferroelectric properties of these materials, which have become a family of materials for lead-free

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...

Personal life

Bengt Aurivillius is a member of the Aurivillius family, his father was the entomologist

Christopher Aurivillius Per Olof Christopher Aurivillius (15 January 1843 – 20 July 1928) was a Swedish entomologist. Life Christopher Aurivillius was born at Forsa, Sweden. He was the director of the Natural History Museum in Stockholm and he specialised in Coleo ...

. His wife was crystallographer

References

Swedish Death Book 1901-2013, (Version 6.0) National Archives (2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aurivillius, Bengt Academic staff of Stockholm University 20th-century Swedish chemists 1918 births 1994 deaths Stockholm University alumni Crystallographers Inorganic chemists Academic staff of Lund University Solid state chemists

Education and career

Scientific research

Personal life

See also

References