Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang

Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang (yō`hän vôlf`gäng dö`bərīnər), 1780–1849, German chemist. From 1810 he was professor of the Univ. of Jena. He is known especially for his discovery of similar triads of elements, a step in the development of the periodic law. He discovered furfural, worked on the use of platinum as a catalyst, and invented a lighter (known as Döbereiner's lamp) that is ignited by the action of hydrogen on a platinum sponge.

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Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang 

Born Dec. 15, 1780, in Hof; died Mar. 24, 1849, in Jena. German chemist. Professor of chemistry, technology, and pharmacology at the University of Jena from 1810.

Between 1821 and 1823, Döbereiner discovered that finely ground platinum evoked a chemical reaction (oxidation of a mixture of the vapors of ethyl alcohol and air, explosion of a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, and other reactions); the platinum itself did not change in the process. In 1832 he demonstrated that in the presence of finely ground platinum, sulfur dioxide is oxidized by oxygen into sulfur anhydride. In 1835, J. Berzelius called all these phenomena catalysis. Döbereiner noted (in 1817 for Ca, Sr, Ba and in 1829 for Li, Na, K; S, Se, Te; and Cl, Br, I) that if three chemically similar elements are placed in the order of their atomic weights, then the atomic weight of the middle element of such a trio is approximately equal to half the sum of the atomic weights of the outer elements. These so-called Döbereiner’s triads were the first attempt to classify elements according to their atomic weight.

WORKS

“Versuch zu einer Gruppierung der elementaren Stoffe nach ihrer Analogie.” In J. W. Döbereiner and M. Pettenkofer, Die Anfänge des natürlichen Systems der chemischen Elemente. Leipzig, 1895.

REFERENCES

Mittasch, A., and E. Theiss. Ot Devi i Debereinera do Dikona: piat’desiat let ν oblasti geterogennogo kataliza. Kharkov, 1934. (Translated from English.)
Giua, M. Istoriia khimii. Moscow, 1966. (Translated from Italian.)