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Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (March 30, 1811-August 16, 1899)

Robert Bunsen

Born 31 March 1811(1811-03-31)
Göttingen, Kingdom of Hanover, Germany
Died 16 August 1899(1899-08-16) (aged 88)
Heidelberg, Germany
Residence Germany
Nationality Germany
Fields Chemistry
Institutions Polytechnic School of Kassel
University of Marburg
University of Heidelberg
University of Breslau
Alma mater University of Göttingen
Doctoral advisor Friedrich Stromeyer
Doctoral students

Adolf von Baeyer
Fritz Haber
Philipp Lenard
Georg Ludwig Carius
Hermann Kolbe
Adolf Lieben
Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig
Viktor Meyer
Friedrich Konrad Beilstein
Henry Enfield Roscoe
John Tyndall
Edward Frankland
Dmitri Mendeleev
Thomas Edward Thorpe
Francis Robert Japp
Known for Discovery of cacodyl radical; discoveries of caesium and rubidium.Invention of the Bunsen burner; carbon-zinc electrochemical cell; methods of gas analysis; development of spectrochemical analysis
Notable awards Copley medal (1860)


Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (March 30, 1811-August 16, 1899) was a German chemist. He perfected the burner that was named after him, invented by British chemist/physicist Michael Faraday, and worked on emission spectroscopy of heated elements.

Bunsen was the youngest of four sons. After attending school in Holzminden, he studied chemistry at the University of Göttingen. He received his doctorate at 19 and then, from 1830 to 1833, traveled across western Europe. During this time, he met Runge, the discoverer of aniline, Justus von Liebig in Giessen, and Mitscherlich in Bonn.

After his return to Germany, Bunsen became a lecturer at Göttingen and began experimental studies of the (in)solubility of metal salts of arsenious acid. Today, his discovery of the use of iron oxide hydrate as a precipitating agent is still the best known antidote against arsenic poisoning.

In 1836, Bunsen succeed Wöhler at Kassel. After teaching there for two years, he accepted a position at the University of Marburg, where he studied cacodyl derivatives. Although Bunsen's work brought him quick and wide acclaim, he almost killed himself from arsenic poisoning. It also cost him the sight of one eye, when an explosion propelled a glass sliver into his eye. In 1841, Bunsen created a carbon electrode that could be used instead of the expensive platinum electrode used in Grove's battery.

In 1852, Bunsen took the position of Leopold Gmelin at Heidelberg. Using nitric acid, he was able to produce pure metals such as chromium, magnesium, aluminum, manganese, sodium, barium, calcium and lithium by electrolysis. A ten-year collaboration with Sir Henry Roscoe began in 1852, studying the formation of hydrogen chloride from hydrogen and chlorine.

In 1859, Bunsen discontinued his work with Roscoe and joined Gustav Kirchhoff to study emission spectroscopy of heated elements. For that purpose, Bunsen perfected a special gas burner, invented by the scientist Michael Faraday in 1885 that was later named the "Bunsen burner". When Bunsen retired at the age of 78, he shifted his interest to geology, which had long been a hobby of his.

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