Please note that these files are in their original Swedish format
Jacob Berzelius och Johan Gottlieb Gahn
The Chief Mining Inspector at the Board of Mines, Johan Gottlieb Gahn (1745–1818), was known for his reluctance to write down his scientific results and experiences, but despite this he still managed to pass on his thoughts and achievements to a new generation of scientists. Thanks to his solid knowledge, his hospitality in his home in Falun, and his appreciation for the importance of common sense, he became a central figure in Swedish chemistry and mineralogy around the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. He not only improved various processes for copper production but also developed new designs for different instruments, including the balance for chemical analysis. For anyone who turned to him and asked for advice, he always found the time—although he was sometimes heard to complain that he was “harassed by affairs, lawsuits, accounts, and a hundred kinds of irritating unscientific tasks and assessor at the Board of Mines, Johan Gottlieb Gahn (1745–1818), was known for his reluctance to write down his scientific results and experiences, but despite this he still managed to pass on his thoughts and achievements to a new generation of scientists. Thanks to his solid knowledge, his hospitality in his home in Falun, and his appreciation for the importance of common sense, he became a central figure in Swedish chemistry and mineralogy around the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. He not only improved various processes for copper production but also developed new designs for different instruments, including the balance for chemical analysis. For anyone who turned to him and asked for advice, he always found the time—although he was sometimes heard to complain that he was “harassed by affairs, lawsuits, accounts, and a hundred kinds of irritating unscientific tasks
Jacob Berzelius och Johan Gottlieb Gahn (pdf)
Jacob Berzelius’ Views and Importance for Today’s Scientific Research
Every year from 1821, ahead of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ annual celebration on March 31, Jacob Berzelius wrote a report that critically summarized the past year’s progress in the natural sciences, primarily in chemistry. The length of these annual reports often extended to several hundred printed pages. The purpose was to spread knowledge through a clearly written account accessible to a broader audience, while at the same time serving as a professional report and critical review of scientific advances during the past year. In practice, they also functioned as a forum for Berzelius to express his opinions and add supplementary remarks to published works. Several times he repeated his views on scientific principles and the importance of solid knowledge—opinions just as relevant 200 years later!
Berzelius betydelse för forskningen (pdf)
Jacob Berzelius and Atomic Weights
It was only when Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) wrote his textbook on chemistry that the significance of Richter’s work came to light, for, as Berzelius wrote, “I was astonished at the unused light his [Richter’s] calculations on the composition of salts and the mutual precipitation of metals shed upon analytical chemistry, and when I laid down the foundations for a calculation of the composition of salts (communicated in Part 1 of the previous edition, p. 398 ff. [1808]), I at the same time drew up a plan for investigations, the execution of which I immediately began.”
Berzelius betydelse för forskningen (pdf)
Jacob Berzelius and the Swedish Medical Society
The French Revolution also had effects in Sweden. A ban was proclaimed on importing books, newspapers, and journals, which made it difficult for both the general public and scientists to keep up with events abroad. Gustaf IV Adolf feared that revolutionary ideas might take hold in Sweden. The progressive spirit of the Enlightenment seemed to have disappeared, yet the desire for new knowledge remained. The knowledge-thirsty Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) was no exception. Even as a young high school student in Linköping, he lamented the state of affairs. When he visited the church on Sunday, December 6, 1795, he wrote about the priest’s remarks.
Jacob Berzelius och Svenska Läkaresällskapet (pdf)
Jacob Berzelius, the Letter Writer
During his youth and his first years in Stockholm, Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) had a limited social circle, most of whom lived in Stockholm. His time was devoted to science and teaching. The letters he wrote were mostly purely scientific in content. There are also few letters preserved to and from his relatives in Östergötland from this period. It was not until the late 1810s that the number of personal letters in Berzelius’ hand increased. Letter writing was, besides personal meetings, the most important way to communicate and share news. Often, this information was conveyed to friends and acquaintances, especially when the letters became a collected travel account or a more personal description compared with what was reported in newspapers. Berzelius’ travel notes are particularly valuable because they show his observational skills and the way he described what he saw or experienced. Berzelius usually expressed himself in a factual and concise manner to his scientific friends, with no literary embellishments, though occasionally with a humorous or satirical twist.
Brevskrivaren Jacob Berzelius (pdf)
History of the Berzelius Society
The Berzelius Society was established on December 11, 1990, with the purpose of deepening and spreading knowledge about Jacob Berzelius and his work, as well as to spark interest in and maintain a Berzelian tradition. This is primarily done by promoting the publication of writings by and about Berzelius, preserving and caring for Berzelius-related memories, and highlighting his person, life, and work through lectures and excursions.
Berzelius-Sällskapets historia (pdf)
The Pharmacy in Vetlanda
In 1760, there were about fifty pharmacies in Sweden, all located in towns. Parish pharmacies began to be established to provide the poor population in remote parishes with access to medical care and medicines. The managers were often the local sexton or priest, but it also happened that the pharmacy was run by a barber-surgeon. The lack of formal requirements for knowledge in the pharmaceutical field before and around 1800 is surprising! This was despite, for example, Johan Bartholomeus Trommsdorff’s book Lärobok uti pharmacevtiska Experimentalchemien, efter nyare systemet för Läkare och Apothekare (Swedish translation by C. F. Plagemann) being published in 1802. The author emphasized the necessity for a pharmacist to have solid knowledge in pharmaceutical chemistry. With this knowledge and conscientious practice, the pharmacist becomes one of the most useful citizens in society. Conversely, if the pharmacist possesses this knowledge but acts out of self-interest, directly contrary to it, “he deserves contempt as a base human being.”
Berzelius and Liebig
Berzelius, together with a few other Swedish scientists, attended the scientific meeting in Hamburg in 1830. The most important event for Berzelius at this meeting was his personal encounter with Justus Liebig.
Berzelius and Liebig, 2021 (pdf)
Anna Sundström – Berzelius’ Housekeeper and Assistant
Anna Christina Persdotter was the daughter of the farmer Per Jansson and was born in Kymlinge in Spånga parish, Stockholm County, on February 26, 1785. Like her older sister Maria (born March 16, 1778), she later took the surname Sundström. In Stockholm, she worked for several years in the household of Commissioner Callin, who lived in the “German Baker’s House” located at the corner of Nybro- and Riddaregatorna (formerly No. 27, now Nybrogatan 9 [main façade] and Riddaregatan 14 [gable], in the block Skravelberget), often referred to as Sperlings backe. The house dated back to 1653, when a deed was issued to the well-known German baker Mårten Kammecker, and it remained in the family for four generations. It changed ownership several times during the 1790s until it was finally purchased by the ironworks owner Wilhelm Hisinger. He owned the house for thirteen years before selling it to his sister, Baroness Christina Sofia Tavast. Later owners included the prime ministers Louis de Geer and Gustaf Samuel Åkerhielm. Among the well-known tenants were Jacob Berzelius and Carl Jonas Ludvig Almqvist. Commissioner Callin was deputy landlord of this property owned by Hisinger. The house was demolished in 1907.
Anna Sundström – Berzelii hushållerska och hjälpreda version 2023 (pdf)
The Locations of Jacob Berzelius’ Chemical Work
After completing his high school studies in Linköping, Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) began his university studies in Uppsala, but they were precarious due to his financial circumstances. Fortunately, Berzelius received the Strandberg Scholarship, and with his maternal inheritance, which yielded one-ninth from Väversunda Sörgård, he was able to continue his studies. The well-known judgment that, upon leaving high school, he had been assessed as “a young man of good natural gifts, with poor manners and of uncertain promise”—and that his knowledge was weak because he had missed many lessons in classical languages—proved to be unfounded. The statement (November 28, 1798) by the curator of the Östgöta Nation in Uppsala, made in connection with the assessment for the Strandberg Scholarship, painted a very different picture. He was then “found to possess excellent knowledge and a completely satisfactory understanding of the sciences that the Nation requires of its future members, in Latin, Greek, the Humanities, and Mathematics.” Furthermore, he had shown a particular interest in medical science.
Despite having more or less memorized the translation of A. F. Fourcroy’s Philosophia Chemica made by Professor Anders Sparrman, he had difficulty answering the tricky chemistry questions in his medical-philosophical examination in December 1798. His grade was non sine laude approbatus [approved not without praise]. In physics, under Professor Zacharias Nordmark, he performed better. His interest in physics and chemistry grew, even though he was hardly encouraged by the representatives of these subjects.
Platserna för Jacob Berzelius kemiska verksamhet, 2021 (pdf)
In Commemoration of Jacob Berzelius
On the proposal put forward on January 16, 1837, Jacob Berzelius was awarded the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ large gold medal, with the justification that his writings exhibited “not only the genius that follows its own path to immortality, but also, in the treatment of scientific subjects, clarity of style and precision of expression, as well as a simple and unpretentious elegance in organization and presentation, through which his works have become exemplary in their field and have even been translated into several foreign languages as such.”
Äreminne över Jacob Berzelius, 2021 (pdf)
Berzelius som lärare
Berzelius anmälde sig till professorn i kemi, Johan ”Sten-Jan” Afzelius, att under vår-terminen 1799 få deltaga i de kemiska laborationerna. Afzelius frågade sarkastiskt om Berzelius kunde skilja på ett kemiskt laboratorium och ett kök och fick ett svävande svar, men samtidigt fick han möta en ung person med iver att lära. Afzelius överlämnade direkt från bokhyllan de två digra banden av Carl Gottfried Hagens Lehrbuch der Apothekerkunst för vidare studier. Berzelius tog sig genast på sig uppgiften, men fann till sin glädje att innehållet var till stora delar redan bekant för honom och han såg fram emot att på laboratoriet få studera de fenomen som han tidigare läst om t.ex. förbrän-ningen av fosfor, järn, kol i syrgas m.m. Äntligen fick han tillträde till ett laboratorium.
Berzelius som lärare, 2021 (pdf)
Some Aspects of the Development of Chemists’ Language at the Time of Modern Chemistry’s Emergence
The Baroque era reinforced people’s belief in superstition, injustice, and abuse of power, but the time was ripe to reform this entire social structure. A new view of humanity was needed—a vision in which the distinctiveness of human beings was recognized—and a lifestyle in which people could see a future and optimism in their existence. Scientists in the 17th and 18th centuries were not only experts in their own fields; they were expected to be well-versed in art, music, literature, and more. They had also begun to question the church’s dominant role in society. People were building a society based on reason and discovered natural laws. Newspapers began to report on scientific findings. Public lectures were organized more regularly toward the end of the 18th century. The natural sciences had come into fashion. This shift would become the great discovery of the 18th century.
Några drag i utvecklingen av kemisternas språk vid tiden för den moderna kemins genombrott, 2021 (pdf)
Jacob Berzelius and Östergötland – The Correspondence Between Jacob Berzelius and “Sister Greta”
In 2015, the Östergötland Museum presented a list of places in the county that had been hidden, but not forgotten. These are sites that can tell stories about past environments and events, and a visit, combined with available literature, can provide a good understanding of the living conditions of the time. One such place is the birthplace of Jacob Berzelius (1779–1848) in Väversunda, on the shore of Lake Tåkern. Orphaned early, he came, through his mother’s remarriage, to the parish priest Anders Ekmarck (1741–1822) in Ekeby near Boxholm. Ekmarck appears to have been an upright man who understood how to encourage the young boy’s curiosity about the wonders of nature. Berzelius never forgot his relatives in his home region.
Berzelius and Water
The use of water for better health and general well-being has existed since time immemorial. Through charms and incantations, people also tried to enhance water’s magical powers. The rich mineral content of various springs was believed to have beneficial effects on certain illnesses, which is why these springs were also called health springs. During the Middle Ages, bathing became more organized, and by the 17th century, people more commonly bathed and socialized at the warm springs in Europe. As early as the 1620s, Axel Oxenstierna had expressed his wish that mineral springs should be established in Sweden, with the aim of improving healthcare.
The great boom for spas came when the water began to be used for internal consumption. Mineral springs were also called surbrunnar (acid wells) because they were thought to contain a life-giving acid, acidum occultum or acidum universale (or carbonic acid, in modern terms). This concept was introduced in the 16th century by the alchemist and mystic Paracelsus and later adopted in Sweden by Urban Hjärne (1641–1724). The more of this acid the water contained, the healthier and more invigorating it was considered to be.
Berzelius och vatten version 2021 (pdf)
Jacob Berzelius and the Publication of Afhandlingar i Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi
After the fatal shooting at the masked ball in 1792, it was Duke Charles who was to hold Sweden’s scepter under a regency for the underage Gustav Adolf. In practice, however, it was not Duke Charles who ruled, but a consortium in which all were dependent on one another. These men, led by Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, showed little interest in the scientific development of the country. The introduction of literature to increase and accelerate progress was limited due to fear of influences from revolutionary France. This also applied to foreign professional literature.
In 1802, Jacob Berzelius and his medical colleague Erik Gadelius applied for permission to form a reading society but were denied. It was difficult to find venues to publish their own findings! However, Berzelius and Gadelius were able, for a short time (1806–7, 1810), to publish a continuation of Sven Hedin’s Vettenskaps-Jurnal för Läkare och Fältskärer, a journal containing scientific articles as well as information for the general public on diseases, diet, spa treatments, and more.
Jacob Berzelius och utgivningen av Afhandlingar i Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi (pdf)
Berzelius and His Female Acquaintances
On many occasions during his travels among relatives and friends in his home region, Berzelius had been urged to marry so that in old age he would not be “alone and without the care of close relatives during the interestless evening of life.” However, these well-meaning suggestions met with no understanding, for he had already, during a visit (1812) to his good friend Alexander Marcet in London, heard how Marcet viewed a scientist entering the married state. Marcet could neither encourage nor discourage him, but said, “Although I am as happy as a family man can be, and the loss of my beloved wife would be a misfortune I could hardly bear, I believe that if I were now unmarried and had the experience of the cares and duties of marriage that I now have, I would certainly not marry except from an irresistible passion.”
This statement by Marcet led Berzelius to abstain from all thoughts of marriage for a long time. However, it is clear from several places in his correspondence that he had had numerous admirers over the years.
Berzelius och hans kvinliga umgänge (pdf)
Berzelius och Trolle Wachtmeister vänskap 30 år
Hans Gabriel (Trolle) Wachtmeister, ende son av riksdrotset Carl Axel Wachtmeister och hans hustru Ulrika Lovisa Maria, f. Sparre, föddes den 11 september 1782. Den unge greven växte upp under ensamma och allvarsamma förhållanden i nästan uteslutande äldre personers sällskap, vilket också kom att prägla hans sinne. Man kan tidigt spåra ett naturvetenskapligt intresse hos den unge mannen, men det var juridiken som en man av börd borde satsa sin framtid på. Han kunde under slutet av höstterminen 1800 avlägga sin juridiska examen vid Uppsala universitet. Hans juridiska karriär blev förvånansvärt snabb och redan 1809 utsågs han till justitiekansler.
Berzelius och Trolle Wachtmeister vänskap 30 år (pdf)
Berzelius and His Park
During his triumphant trip to Germany in 1845 with his wife Betty, they arrived, after drinking from the spring in Karlsbad, in the city of Frankfurt, where they were able to view the new monument to the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the planned statue of the inventor of printing, Johann Gutenberg (and his associates Hans Fust and Peter Schöffer). Berzelius was captivated by what he saw and thought to himself:
“How have the Swedish people cared for their memories? What have they done to preserve the place where Linnaeus was born, the chaplain’s residence in Stenbrohult in Småland, and his house, garden, and orangery in Uppsala? The estates have refused all requested grants for this. They do not wish to acknowledge the past and seem neither to care much about the future. To live and laze for the day is their aim.”
Little could he have imagined what would happen just thirteen years later in a central location in Stockholm!
Contemporary crossword with Berzelius as the theme, DN 2017-01-27