Lorenz Florenz Friedrich von Crell (21 January 1744 – 7 June 1816) 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 ...

. In 1778 he started publishing the first

periodical Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

journal focusing on chemistry. The journal had a longer title but was known simply as

Crell's Annalen Crell's Annalen is a German chemistry journal. It was originally named ''Chemisches Journal'', then ''Die neuesten Entdeckungen in der Chemie'', and later ''Chemische Annalen für die Freunde der Naturlehre, Arzneygelährtheit, Haushaltungskunst ...

Life and work

Lorenz Crell was born in the

Duchy of Brunswick The Duchy of Brunswick () was a historical German state that ceased to exist in 1918. Its capital city, capital was the city of Braunschweig, Brunswick (). It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ...

's university town of

Helmstedt Helmstedt (; Eastphalian: ''Helmstidde'') is a town on the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. The historic university and Hanseatic city conserves an important monumental heritage o ...

as the son of medical professor Johann Friedrich Crell and grandchild of medical professor

Lorenz Heister Lorenz Heister (Latin: ''Laurentius Heister'') (19 September 1683-18 April 1758) was a German anatomist, surgeon and botanist born in Frankfurt am Main. Biography From 1702 to 1706, Heister studied at the Universities of University of Giessen, G ...

, who achieved renown in surgery and botany. At the age of fourteen, he entered the

University of Helmstedt The University of Helmstedt (; official Latin name: ''Academia Julia'', "Julius University") was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810. History Founded by and named after Duke Juli ...

where, after nearly a decade of taking courses offered by the philosophical and medical faculties, he took his M.D. in 1768. He then made a two-year study tour to Göttingen, Strasbourg, Paris, Edinburgh, and London. In 1771, soon after his return to the Duchy of Brunswick, Crell secured an appointment in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

's Collegium Carolinum as professor of metallurgy. Three years later, he relocated to the University of Helmstedt as a professor of medicine responsible for theoretical medicine and ''

materia medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...

.'' Starting in 1783 till 1810 he was a professor of philosophy and medicine at the University of Helmstedt and from 1810 till his death in 1816 he was a professor of chemistry at 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 1778 Crell published the first issue of the ''Chemische Journal für die Freunde der Naturlehre, Arzneygelahrtheit, Haushaltungskunst und Manufacturen''. He changed his journal's name two times, ending up in 1784 with

. This periodic journal was the first journal focusing primarily on chemistry. Crell stopped publishing the journal in 1804 after the concurrence of the chemical journal of Alexander Nicolaus Scherer and Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen, today published as ''Journal für praktische Chemie'' became too strong. Crell was involved in the sometimes harsh discussion about the

phlogiston theory The phlogiston theory, a superseded scientific theory, postulated the existence of a fire-like element dubbed phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burnin ...

. The experiments of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier showed that the up to that point accepted theory was probably wrong. Von Crell translated some articles of

Richard Kirwan Richard Kirwan, LL.D, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, FRSE Membership of the Royal Irish Academy, MRIA (1 August 1733 – 22 June 1812) was an Irish geologist and chemist. He was one of the last supporters of the theory of Phlogiston theory, ...

, a supporter of the phlogiston theory. Von Crell defended the theory until 1799 and never openly accepted that it was wrong. Crell was elected into the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

in 1778 and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1786. In 1780 the

Duke of Brunswick Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

made him a Bergrat (administrator of mining) and in 1781 he was nobled by the emperor Leopold II (his name changed from Crell to von Crell).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crell, Lorenz Von 1744 births 1816 deaths 19th-century German chemists People from Helmstedt People from Brunswick-Lüneburg University of Helmstedt alumni Academic staff of the University of Helmstedt Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of TU Braunschweig Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society Founder fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Members of the American Philosophical Society 18th-century German chemists