Read more
This book tells the story of two of the most important figures in the history of chemistry. Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) was the first to prepare oxygen and realise that air is a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen; he also discovered many important organic and inorganic substances. His fellow chemist and good friend, Torbern Bergman (1735-1784), was one of the pioneers in analytical and physical chemistry. In this carefully researched biography, the author, Anders Lennartson, explains the chemistry of Scheele and Bergman while putting their discoveries in the context of other 18th-century chemistry. Much of the information contained in this work is available in English for the first time.
List of contents
Chapter 1 - Introduction.- Chapter 2 - Bergman and Scheele: Childhoods.- Chapter 3 - The two men.- Chapter 4 - Bergman's and Scheele's Education.- Chapter 5 - Bergman's early scientific career.- Chapter 6 - Bergman, Scheele and the Royal Academy of Sciences.- Chapter 7 - Bergman's geological work.- Chapter 8 - Scheele in Malmö.- Chapter 9 - Bergman becomes a chemist.- Chapter 10 - Scheele moves to Stockholm.- Chapter 11 - Bergman as a teacher.- Chapter 12 - Bergman's life as Professor.- Chapter 13 - Scheele in Uppsala.- Chapter 14 - New Mineral Acids.- Chapter 15 - New Metals.- Chapter 16 - The invitation to Berlin.- Chapter 17 - Bergman and the chemistry of mineral waters.- Chapter 18 - Research on carbon dioxide.- Chapter 19 - Scheele in Köping.- Chapter 20 - Bergman's work on elective attractions.- Chapter 21 - The discovery of oxygen.- Chapter 22 - Bergman's and Scheele's theories of elements and atoms.- Chapter 23 - Bergman as an analytical chemist.- Chapter 24 - Scheele's contribution to organic chemistry.- Chapter 25 - Bergman's contributions to minerology.- Chapter 26 - Bergman's contribution to chemical numenclature.- Chapter 27 - Scheele's and Bergman's contributions to pharmaceutical chemistry.- Chapter 28 - The end of the story.
About the author
Anders Lennartson received his Ph.D. from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) in 2009 with a thesis concerning the synthesis of optically active compounds from achiral starting materials (absolute asymmetric synthesis). This included the first optical resolution of five- and seven-coordinate metal complexes. After a stay at the University of Southern Denmark working on bioinorganic chemistry and spin crossover and at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) working with chemical storage of solar energy, he returned to the University of Gothenburg as a technician. Anders has published 60 scientific papers and number of popular science papers, mainly on historic subjects. He has written three books in Swedish, including the first modern biography of Carl Wilhelm Scheele, published in 2015.
The Chemical Works of Carl Wilhelm Scheele, an analysis of all Scheele's publications, was published by Springer in 2017.
Report
"This seems to be one of the first books ... which 'aims to provide volumes that advance the historical knowledge of chemistry and its practice, while also remaining accessible to both scientists and formal historians of science. Volumes should thus be of broad interest to the greater chemical community, while still retaining a high level of historical scholarship' ... . this Plutarchian biography generally meets these criteria and one cannot really ask for more." (Frank A. J. L. James, Ambix, March 14, 2022)
