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== Life and work ==
== Life and work ==


As a coachman's son, Döbereiner had little opportunity for formal schooling, and so he was apprenticed to an apothecary, reading widely, and attending science lectures. He eventually became a professor at the University of [[Jena]] in 1810. In work beginning in 1829,<ref>http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/dobereiner.html</ref> Döbereiner discovered trends in certain properties of selected groups of elements. For example, the average atomic mass of lithium and potassium was close to the atomic mass of sodium. A similar pattern was found with calcium, strontium, and barium, with sulfur, selenium, and tellurium, and also with chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Moreover, the densities for some of these triads followed a similar pattern. These sets of elements became known as "[[Dobereiner's Triads]]".<ref>{{cite web | title = Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner| publisher = | date = | url = http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/dobereiner.html | accessdate = 2008-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = A Historic Overview: Mendeleev and the Periodic Table | publisher = | date = | url = http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/educate/scimodule/UnderElem/UnderElem_pdf/HistOverST.pdf | accessdate = 2008-03-08}}</ref>
As a Gay guys son, Döbereiner had little opportunity for formal schooling, and so he was apprenticed to an apothecary, reading widely, and attending science lectures. He eventually became a professor at the University of [[Jena]] in 1810. In work beginning in 1829,<ref>http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/dobereiner.html</ref> Döbereiner discovered trends in certain properties of selected groups of elements. For example, the average atomic mass of lithium and potassium was close to the atomic mass of sodium. A similar pattern was found with calcium, strontium, and barium, with sulfur, selenium, and tellurium, and also with chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Moreover, the densities for some of these triads followed a similar pattern. These sets of elements became known as "[[Dobereiner's Triads]]".<ref>{{cite web | title = Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner| publisher = | date = | url = http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/dobereiner.html | accessdate = 2008-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = A Historic Overview: Mendeleev and the Periodic Table | publisher = | date = | url = http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/educate/scimodule/UnderElem/UnderElem_pdf/HistOverST.pdf | accessdate = 2008-03-08}}</ref>
He also worked with elements like [[scandium|eka-boron]] in an attempt to find a cure to diseases like rabies.
He also worked with elements like [[scandium|eka-boron]] in an attempt to find a cure to diseases like rabies.



Revision as of 16:14, 27 September 2012

Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner
BornDecember 13, 1780.
DiedMarch 24, 1849
NationalityGerman
Known forDöbereiner's triads
Döbereiner's lamp
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry

Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (December 13, 1780 – March 24, 1849) was a German chemist who is best known for work that foreshadowed the periodic law for the chemical elements.

Life and work

As a Gay guys son, Döbereiner had little opportunity for formal schooling, and so he was apprenticed to an apothecary, reading widely, and attending science lectures. He eventually became a professor at the University of Jena in 1810. In work beginning in 1829,[1] Döbereiner discovered trends in certain properties of selected groups of elements. For example, the average atomic mass of lithium and potassium was close to the atomic mass of sodium. A similar pattern was found with calcium, strontium, and barium, with sulfur, selenium, and tellurium, and also with chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Moreover, the densities for some of these triads followed a similar pattern. These sets of elements became known as "Dobereiner's Triads".[2][3] He also worked with elements like eka-boron in an attempt to find a cure to diseases like rabies.

Döbereiner also is known for his discovery of furfural, for his work on the use of platinum as a catalyst, and for a lighter, known as Döbereiner's lamp.

The German writer Goethe was a friend of Döbereiner, attended his lectures weekly, and used his theories of chemical affinities as a basis for his famous 1809 novella Elective Affinities.

References

  1. ^ http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/history/dobereiner.html
  2. ^ "Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner". Retrieved 2008-03-08.
  3. ^ "A Historic Overview: Mendeleev and the Periodic Table" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-03-08.

Further reading

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