Magnus Martin Pontin
Magnus Martin Pontin (born January 20, 1781 in Församling Askeryd, Jönköpings län ; † January 30, 1858 in Församling Jacob, Stockholms län ) was a Swedish chemist and doctor.
Pontin went to high school in Linköping , studied in Uppsala and from 1806 worked as a doctor in Stockholm and in 1809 became royal personal physician. He is known for his experiments in electrochemistry with Jöns Jakob Berzelius , with whom he was friends since he was a student in Uppsala. He later participated in public health reforms in Sweden. In 1830 he traveled to Germany with Berzelius and met scientists there. He was also engaged in horticulture and published poetry and translations.
After Humphry Davy had isolated sodium and potassium with the help of electrolysis in 1807, Berzelius wanted to repeat the experiments, collaborating with Pontin. Her voltaic cells were too weak, however, after using a mercury cathode, potassium was deposited (formation of potassium amalgam). In 1808 they announced their success to Davy, who then also isolated strontium and magnesium by using mercury electrodes and then distilling off the mercury. Before Davy, Pontin and Berzelius succeeded in separating ammonium amalgam , as did Thomas Johann Seebeck at the same time .
Pontin was accepted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1815 and into the Royal Swedish Academy of Forestry and Agriculture in 1817 .
Works
- Comments on nature, art and science, on a trip via Berlin and the Harz Mountains to Hamburg to the meeting of naturalists and doctors in 1830, along with the return trip via Copenhagen, translated by G. Ericson, Johann August Meissner, Hamburg, 1832, online
literature
- Winfried R. Pötsch (lead), Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller: Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989, p. 347f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Illustration based on Dunsch, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Teubner 1986
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pontin, Magnus Martin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish chemist and doctor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 20, 1781 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Församling Askeryd, Jönköpings län |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 30, 1858 |
| Place of death | Församling Jacob, Stockholm County |