science · 13 April 1853 · 171 years ago
death
Died 13 Apr 1853 at age 64 (born 2 Aug 1788).
German chemist who discovered potassium ferrocyanide (1822), devised Gmelin's test for bile pigments and researched the chemistry of digestion. He published the notable Handbook of Chemistry to comprehensively survey the subject. This was the first thorough update since the era of Lavoisier's influence. Organic chemistry was one of the first edition's three volumes (1817). Gmelin thus reinforced the distinction from inorganic compounds, as had Berzelius, who coined the name organic, only a decade earlier, for substances found in living, or once-living tissues. By the fourth edition (1843), Gmelin's work had expanded to nine volumes, of which six were on organic chemistry. Gmelin coined the names ester, ketone and racemic acid. Johann Georg Gmelin was his great-uncle.
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