Johan Afzelius (13 June 1753 in

Larv Larv is a village situated in Vara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to ...

– 20 May 1837 in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

) was a Swedish chemist and notable as the

doctoral advisor A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well ...

of one of the founders of modern

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Jöns Jacob Berzelius Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be one of the founders of modern chemistry. Berzelius became a memb ...

. He was the brother of

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Adam Afzelius Adam Afzelius (8 October 175020 January 1837) was a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Afzelius was born at Larv in Västergötland in 1750. He was appointed teacher of oriental languages at Uppsala University in 1777, and in 1785 ...

and physician

Pehr von Afzelius Pehr von Afzelius (14 December 1760, Larv – 2 December 1843 in Uppsala, Sweden) was a Swedish medical doctor and professor in Uppsala. Afzelius was the brother of botanist Adam Afzelius, chemist Johan Afzelius, and doctoral advisor of Jacob ...

. Afzelius received his PhD at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1776 under

Torbern Olof Bergman Torbern Olof Bergman (''KVO'') (20 March 17358 July 1784) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist noted for his 1775 ''Dissertation on Elective Attractions'', containing the largest chemical affinity tables ever published. Bergman was the first ...

. In 1780 he became a lecturer at Uppsala and in 1784 a professor of chemistry.Nordisk familjebok
Uggleupplagan. 1. A - Armati From 1792 to 1797 he undertook research trips to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in order to study mineral deposits and to visit scientific institutions. His remarkable mineral collection became part of Uppsala University's mineral cabinet. Afzelius did

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

analyses, and made contributions to the journal ''Afhandlingar i fysik, kemi och mineralogi'' (Treatises on

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, chemistry and mineralogy). He is notable for having isolated

formic acid Formic acid (), systematically named methanoic acid, is the simplest carboxylic acid. It has the chemical formula HCOOH and structure . This acid is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some an ...

from

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s and showing that formic acid was different from the closely related

acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main compone ...

. He also studied the chemistry of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

and

oxalic acid Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and chemical formula , also written as or or . It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name i ...

. In 1801, he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

Published works

* ''Dissertatio chemica de niccolo'', (with Torbern Bergman), 1775 – dissertation on nickel. * ''Dissertatio chemica de acido sacchari'' (with Torbern Bergman), 1776 – dissertation on saccharinic acid. * ''Dissertatio chemica de acido formicarum'', (with Petrus Öhrn), 1777 – dissertation on formic acid. * ''Dissertatio chemica de baroselenite'' (with Axel Fryxell) 1788 – dissertation on barium selenite.OCLC World Cat
published works

References

* J.R. Partington, ''A History of Chemistry,'' Macmillan: 1962, vol. 3, p. 200. * ''Svenskt biografiskt lexikon,'' Albert Bonniers: 1918–1985, vol. 1, pp. 218–224. {{DEFAULTSORT:Afzelius, Johan 1753 births 1837 deaths People from Vara Municipality Swedish chemists Swedish mineralogists Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Uppsala University Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences