Bunsen, ROBERT WILHELM

Bunsen, ROBERT WILHELM, a distinguished German chemist, born at Göttingen, March 31, 1811. He began the study of zoology, chemistry, and physics at the university of his native town, and continued them at Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. After having lectured at Göttingen and Cassel, he filled the chair of chemistry in succession at Marburg, Breslau, and, from 1852, Heidelberg. His papers on physics and geology, as well as on chemistry, are numerous. The charcoal pile and the burner which bear his name are in extensive use. That the hydrate of oxide of iron is an antidote to arsenic, is an important fact which was made known by him, along with his friend Berthold, in 1837. Bunsen was the first to produce magnesium in large quantities; and in 1860 he invented the magnesium light, which has proved so important to photography. But the greatest discovery with which his name is associated, is that of the spectrum analysis—made in conjunction with his friend Kirchhoff—which has been the means of working so many wonders in chemistry, and revealing so much to astronomers. Its first result was the discovery of two new metals. Besides his original work in chemistry, Bunsen proved himself also one of its most successful teachers, with a singularly happy manner of demonstration. Among his works are: Enumeratio ac Descriptio Hygrometrorum (1830), Das Eisenoxydhydrat (2d ed. 1837), Gasometrische Methoden (1857; English by Roscoe), Einleitung zur Analyse der Aschen u. Mineralwässer (1874), and Flammenreaktionen (1880). The government of Baden made him a privy-councillor in 1863. He died 16th August 1899. See Nature for 1881. 1899.