Mitscherlich , Eilhardt

Mitscherlich , Eilhardt
(1794–1863) German chemist
Mitscherlich, who was born at Neuende in Germany, studied oriental languages at Heidelberg and Berlin. He then turned to the study of medicine at Göttingen in 1817, where he became interested in crystallography. For two years he worked with Jöns Berzelius in Stockholm, returning to Berlin in 1821, where he was appointed to the chair of chemistry.
While working on arsenates and phosphates, Mitscherlich realized that substances of a similar composition often have the same crystalline form, and from this he formulated, in 1819, his law of isomorphism. This was in opposition to the orthodox view of René Haüy that each substance has a distinctive crystalline form. Despite Haüy's rejection of the law, Berzelius accepted it and was quick to spot its significance, for if the composition of a substance X is known, and it is also known that X has a similarity of crystalline form with Y, then Y's composition can be derived. Thus knowing the composition of sulfur trioxide as SO3, and that it has a similar form to ‘chromic acid’, Berzelius was able to give this compound the composition CrO3. Using this technique Berzelius produced his revised table of atomic weights in 1826.
Mitscherlich also discovered selenic acid (1827), named benzene, and showed, in 1834, that if benzene reacts with nitric acid it forms nitrobenzene.

Scientists. . 2011.

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  • Mitscherlich, Eilhardt — ▪ German chemist born Jan. 17, 1794, Neuende, duchy of Oldenburg [Germany] died Aug. 28, 1863, Berlin, Prussia       German chemist who promulgated the theory of isomorphism, a relationship between crystalline structure and chemical composition.… …   Universalium

  • Eilhard Mitscherlich — Eilhard Mitscherlich, Lithographie von Rudolf Hoffmann, 1856 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Berzelius, Jöns Jacob — ▪ Swedish chemist Introduction born August 20, 1779, near Linköping, Sweden died August 7, 1848, Stockholm  one of the founders of modern chemistry. He is especially noted for his determination of atomic weights (atomic weight), the development… …   Universalium

  • benzene — /ben zeen, ben zeen /, n. Chem. a colorless, volatile, flammable, toxic, slightly water soluble, liquid, aromatic compound, C6H6, obtained chiefly from coal tar: used in the manufacture of commercial and medicinal chemicals, dyes, and as a… …   Universalium

  • nitrobenzene — /nuy troh ben zeen, ben zeen /, n. Chem. a pale yellow, toxic, water soluble liquid, C6H5NO2, produced by nitrating benzene with nitric acid: used chiefly in the manufacture of aniline. Also called nitrobenzol /nuy troh ben zawl, zol/. [1865 70;… …   Universalium

  • Pasteur, Louis — born Dec. 27, 1822, Dole, France died Sept. 28, 1895, Saint Cloud, near Paris French chemist and microbiologist. Early in his career, after studies at the École Normale Supérieure, he researched the effects of polarized light on chemical… …   Universalium

  • Μίτσερλιχ, Άιλχαρτ — (Eilhardt Mitscherlich, Νόιεντε, Όλντενμπουργκ 1794 – Σένμπεργκ, Βερολίνο 1863). Γερμανός χημικός. Σπούδασε πρώτα ιατρική και μετά αφοσιώθηκε εντελώς στη χημεία. Υπήρξε μαθητής και στη συνέχεια συνεργάτης του Μπερτσέλιους. Το 1821 τον προσκάλεσε… …   Dictionary of Greek

  • benzene — 1835, benzine, altered from Ger. Benzin, coined in 1833 by German chemist Eilhardt Mitscherlich (1794 1863) from Benz(oesäure) benzoic acid + ENE (Cf. ene) (Ger. in), hydrocarbon suffix. Mitscherlich obtained it from a distillation of benzoic… …   Etymology dictionary

  • polymorphism — polymorphistic, adj. /pol ee mawr fiz euhm/, n. 1. the state or condition of being polymorphous. 2. Crystall. crystallization into two or more chemically identical but crystallographically distinct forms. 3. Biol. the existence of an organism in… …   Universalium

  • benzene — [19] The original name given to this hydrocarbon, by the German chemist Eilhardt Mitscherlich in 1833, was benzine. He based it on the term benzoic acid, a derivative of benzoin, the name of a resinous substance exuded by trees of the genus… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

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