Christen Thomsen Barfoed

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Christen Thomsen Barfoed

Christen Thomsen Barfoed (born  June 16, 1815 in Stege , †  April 30, 1889 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish chemist who was a professor at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University from 1858 to 1887 . He devoted himself primarily to chemical analysis and developed a method, called Barfoed's sample , to differentiate between monosaccharides and di- , oligo- or polysaccharides . From 1865 he was a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences .

Life

Christen Thomsen Barfoed was born in Stege in 1815 as the son of a pharmacist and passed the state examination in pharmacy in 1835 and the examination as a candidate for applied natural sciences at the Polytechnic in Copenhagen , currently Denmark's Technical University . From 1839 to 1842 he completed further studies abroad, including in Berlin , Vienna and Paris , where he was particularly concerned with chemistry and mineralogy . After he had subsequently given private lessons, he acted from 1845 as a lecturer in chemistry and physics and from 1850 to 1857 as a professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Copenhagen. From 1850 to 1859 he also taught chemistry at the Danish Army College . In 1858 he became an associate professor of chemistry and pharmacy at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, which had been founded two years earlier , at which he built up the chemical laboratory and worked until 1887.

Christen Thomsen Barfoed was married in 1846 and had one son and two daughters. He was friends with Jacob Christian Jacobsen , the founder of the Carlsberg Brewery , and played a major role in the creation of the Carlsberg Laboratory in 1876. Until his death, he was a member of the board of directors of the laboratory and the board of directors of the Carlsberg Foundation , which among other things financed the laboratory. One of his students was Johan Kjeldahl , who, after working as an assistant in Barfoed's laboratory, took over the management of the chemical department of the Carlsberg laboratory on his recommendation and later developed the Kjeldahl nitrogen determination . He died in Copenhagen in 1889 .

Scientific work

Christen Thomsen Barfoed was particularly concerned with the development of chemical analysis methods for use in pharmacy , agriculture and the production of food and spirits . His main work is a textbook on analytical chemistry with the title “ Lærebog i den analytiske Kemi, first published in 1863 and second edition in 1880 . Prøvemidlerne og den uorganiske kvalitative Analyze ", which, together with his work" De organiske Stoffers kvalitative Analyze " published in 1878, shaped the teaching and practice of chemical analysis in Denmark until the early 20th century. The Barfoed's sample, first described by him in the journal for analytical chemistry in 1873 under the title “About the detection of dextrose in addition to dextrin and related bodies”, was named after him to distinguish between monosaccharides and di- , oligo- or polysaccharides .

Awards

Christen Thomsen Barfoed was accepted into the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences in 1865 and as a knight in the Dannebrogorden , from which he also received the Cross of Honor ( Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn ) in 1878 and was promoted to commander in 1887 . The University of Uppsala (1877) and the University of Copenhagen (1879) awarded him honorary doctorates . In addition, he was made an honorary member of the Danish Pharmacists' Association in 1885.

Works (selection)

  • Den rene Krystallographi's Hovedtræk . Copenhagen 1861.
  • Analyzes of the organiske, in the case of occasional alkali ages: to the brug ved de første Øvelser in chemical analysis . Copenhagen 1863.
  • Lærebog i den analytiske Kemi. Prøvemidlerne and uorganiske qualitative analysis . Copenhagen 1863 (second edition 1880).
  • De organiske Stoffers qualitative analysis . Copenhagen 1878; German edition: Textbook of organic qualitative analysis. Copenhagen 1881.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Barfoed, Christen Thomsen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish chemist
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1815
PLACE OF BIRTH Bridges
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1889
Place of death Copenhagen