Friedrich Stromeyer FRS(For)

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(2 August 1776 – 18 August 1835) was a German

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

. He was the discoverer of

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

. From 1982, the Friedrich Stromeyer Prize has been awarded for chemical achievement in Germany.

Biography

He was born in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

on 2 August 1776 the eldest son of Dr Ernerst Johann Friedrich Stromeyer, professor of medicine at

Göttingen University Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

, and his wife, Marie Magdalena Johanne von Blum. Stromeyer studied Chemistry and Medicine at Göttingen and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and received an MD degree from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

in 1800, studying under

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

and

Louis Nicolas Vauquelin Louis Nicolas Vauquelin FRS(For) HFRSE (; 16 May 1763 – 14 November 1829) was a French pharmacist and chemist. He was the discoverer of chromium and beryllium. Early life Vauquelin was born at Saint-André-d'Hébertot in Normandy, France, th ...

. He was then a professor at the university, and also served as an inspector of apothecaries. His students included

Robert Bunsen Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (; 30 March 1811 – 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. The Bu ...

. In 1817, whilst studying compounds of

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

carbonate, Stromeyer discovered the element

. Cadmium is a common impurity of

compounds, though often found only in minute quantities. He was also the first to recommend starch as a reagent for free

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

and he studied chemistry of arsine and bismuthate salts. In 1819, he was the first scientist to describe the mineral eudialyte. In 1826, he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

his proposer being Edward Turner. As his fellowship was Ordinary (rather than Foreign or Honorary) this means he was physically present in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

at that time. The following year he was elected a Foreign Fellow of 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, r ...

. In 1832, the mineral stromeyerite was named in his honour by mineralogist

François Sulpice Beudant François Sulpice Beudant (5 September 1787 – 10 December 1850) was a French mineralogist and geologist. The mineral beudantite was named after him. Life Born in Paris, he was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Normale, and in 1811 ...

. He died in Göttingen on 18 August 1835, aged 59.

References

* Lockemann, Georg; Oesper, Ralph E. ''Friedrich Stromeyer and the history of chemical laboratory instruction'', ''J. Chem. Educ.'' 1953, 30, pp. 202–204. * I. Asimov, ''Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology'' (2nd Ed.), Doubleday, 1982, pp. 276–277. * M.E. Weeks, ''Discovery of the Elements'' (7th Ed.), Leicester, H. M., Ed., ''J. Chem. Educ.,'' 1968, pp. 502–508. * J. R. Partington, ''A History of Chemistry,'' Macmillan, 1962, ''vol. 3'', pp. 659–660. * ''Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte,'' Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1962, vol. 5, p. 566.

External links

* 1776 births 1835 deaths 19th-century German chemists Scientists from Göttingen Discoverers of chemical elements University of Göttingen alumni Foreign members of the Royal Society Cadmium 18th-century German chemists {{Germany-chemist-stub