Torbern Olof Bergman (redirected from Torbern Bergman)

Bergman, Torbern Olof 

Born Mar. 20, 1735, in Ka-trineberg; died July 8,1784, in Medevi. Swedish chemist and mineralogist.

Bergman graduated from the University of Uppsala, where he was a teacher of mathematics and physics from 1758 and a professor of chemistry and mineralogy from 1767. He developed a systematic approach to qualitative analysis. He perfected this analysis through the use of a blowpipe; he also made considerable use of weight analysis. Bergman discovered a number of minerals and classified them in terms of their chemical composition. He advanced a mechanistic theory of selective chemical affinity. Mistakenly assuming that in any given situation the affinity between two substances remains constant and does not depend on the relative masses of the reacting substances, Bergman composed tables of chemical affinity, which were used until the beginning of the 19th century.

WORKS

Opuscula physica et chemica. . . , vols. 1–6. Stockholm [and elsewhere], 1779–90.

REFERENCES

Blokh, M. A. “Torbern Bergman.” In Akademiku V. I. Vernad-skomu: K 50-letiiu nauchnoi i pedagogicheskoi deiatel’nosti, vol. 2. Moscow, 1936.
Partington, J. R. A History of Chemistry, vol. 3. New York, 1962. Pages 179–99.