Friedrich Stromeyer

Friedrich Stromeyer
Friedrich Stromeyer
Born	(1776-08-02)2 August 1776 Göttingen
Died	18 August 1835(1835-08-18) (aged 59)
Nationality	German
Fields	Chemist
Institutions	University of Göttingen
Alma mater	University of Göttingen
Doctoral advisor	Johann Friedrich Gmelin Louis Nicolas Vauquelin
Doctoral students	Robert Bunsen Eilhard Mitscherlich
Known for	Cadmium
Influenced	Leopold Gmelin

Friedrich Stromeyer (2 August 1776 – 18 August 1835) was a German chemist. Stromeyer received an MD degree from the University of Göttingen in 1800, studying under Johann Friedrich Gmelin and Louis Nicolas Vauquelin. He was then a professor at the university, and also served as an inspector of apothecaries.

While studying compounds of zinc, Stromeyer discovered the element cadmium in 1817; cadmium is a common impurity of zinc compounds, though often found only in minute quantities. He was also the first to recommend starch as a reagent for free iodine and he studied chemistry of arsine and bismuthate salts.

References

• Lockemann, Georg; Oesper, Ralph E. Friedrich Stromeyer and the history of chemical laboratory instruction, J. Chem. Ed. 1953, 30, pp. 202–204.
• I. Asimov, Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (2nd Ed.), Doubleday, 1982, pp. 276–277.
• M.E. Weeks, Discovery of the Elements (7th Ed.), Leicester, H. M., Ed., J. Chem. Ed., 1968, pp. 502–508.
• J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry, Macmillan, 1962, vol. 3, pp. 659–660.
• Biographisches Lexikon der hervorragenden Ärzte, Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1962, vol. 5, p. 566.