Torbern bergman
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In 1765, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. His father wished him to read either law or divinity, while he himself was anxious to study mathematics and natural science; in the effort to please both himself and his father he overworked himself and injured his health. In April 1765 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
Categories: Swedish chemists | Swedish mineralogists
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Bergman's guidance proved essential, though he predeceased Scheele and the full acclaim for oxygen by two years.[15]As professor of chemistry at Uppsala University from 1767, Bergman supervised the doctoral work of numerous students, many of whom went on to advance Swedish chemistry and mineralogy.The lunar crater Bergman, located on the far side of the Moon, was officially named after him by the International Astronomical Union in 1976. In methods of chemical analysis, both by the blowpipe and in the wet way, he effected many improvements, and he made considerable contributions to mineralogical and geological chemistry, and to crystallography.
At age 17, Bergman left for formal studies at Uppsala University.[4]
Initial Interests and Challenges
Growing up amid the rural surroundings of Västergötland, Torbern Bergman developed an early fascination with the natural world, influenced by the province's agricultural and forested landscapes.[5]Family expectations favored traditional professions such as law or theology, which were seen as more suitable for his social standing.[5]Linnaeus, as a towering national figure in natural history, indirectly shaped the scientific aspirations of young Swedes like Bergman through his widespread influence.Education and Early Career
Studies at Uppsala University
Torbern Bergman enrolled at Uppsala University in 1752 at the age of 17, initially focusing on philosophy and mathematics despite his family's preference for him to pursue theology or law.[6][7] His early curriculum emphasized foundational texts in these disciplines, laying the groundwork for his later scientific pursuits, though he soon gravitated toward natural sciences amid the vibrant intellectual environment of the university.[7]The intellectual atmosphere at Uppsala, influenced by leading scholars in natural philosophy and sciences, fostered Bergman's growing fascination with chemical processes.[7]Bergman earned his master's degree in 1758 with a dissertation on universal attraction, focusing on physicomathematical principles.[7][8] To support himself financially, Bergman took on part-time roles as a tutor to fellow students and an assistant in the university's chemical laboratory, where he honed practical skills in assaying minerals and preparing reagents.[7] These hands-on experiences in the laboratory equipped him with expertise in quantitative analysis and experimental techniques essential for his future contributions.First Publications and Appointments
Following his master's degree in 1758, Torbern Bergman published his first independent scientific work in 1760, an astronomical treatise titled Bemerkningar öfwer tysta eldar (Remarks on silent fires), which explored phenomena related to auroras and meteors based on observations from Uppsala.[9] This publication marked his transition from student to emerging scholar, building on foundational studies in physics and mathematics conducted during his time at Uppsala University.In 1761, Bergman secured his initial academic appointment as adjunct professor of mathematics at Uppsala University, a position that allowed him to lecture on physics and related subjects while continuing experimental work.[1] During this period, he began systematic analyses of Swedish minerals, including examinations of iron ores from local deposits and potential alum sources such as alunite, employing early blowpipe techniques to identify metallic components and impurities.[10] These experiments highlighted practical applications for Swedish industry, such as improving ore processing for iron production and synthesizing alum through sulfuric acid treatment of alunite followed by potash addition.Bergman's rising profile led to his election as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1764, an honor that affirmed his burgeoning reputation in natural sciences despite his primary focus on mathematics at the time.Recent scholarship post-2020, including Anders Lennartson's 2020 biography, underscores this partnership while exploring Bergman's notation systems in affinity tables as early precursors to algorithmic prediction in computational chemistry, drawing parallels to modern database querying for reaction pathways. He was the first chemist to use the A, B, C, etc.
Bergman compiled comprehensive tables ranking the affinities of 59 substances, providing a systematic order for predicting reaction outcomes, such as the precipitation of silver chloride from silver nitrate and hydrochloric acid due to the stronger affinity of silver for chloride.[19]To illustrate these affinities, Bergman introduced a symbolic notation using letters A, B, C, and D to represent chemical species and their combinations, marking an early precursor to modern stoichiometric equations.
Bergman's most important chemical paper is his Essay on Elective Attractions (1775), a study of chemical affinity. During a period of enforced abstinence from study, he amused himself with field botany and entomology, to such good purpose that he was able to send Linnaeus specimens of several new kinds of insects, and in 1756 he succeeded in proving that, contrary to the opinion of that naturalist, Coccus aqualicus was really the ovum of a kind of leech.
(Italian Edition)
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.
Torbern Olof Bergman
chemistnaturalist
Torbern Olof Bergman was a Swedish chemist and naturalist. In 1767, he published Disquisitio chemica de confectione aluminis, proposing methods to improve alum extraction by boiling alunite in sulfuric acid and adding potash, which optimized industrial yields.
as Opuscula Physica et Chemica in 1779-1790, and were translated into French, German and English.
Achievements
Bergman invented a process to make carbonated water from chalk by the action of sulphuric acid. In 1758, having returned to Upsala, he graduated there.
Career
Bergman began to teach mathematics and physics at the university, publishing papers on the rainbow, the aurora, the pyroelectric phenomena of tourmaline, etc.
Through rigorous oversight of theses on chemical topics, Bergman cultivated a generation of researchers, editing volumes of dissertations that disseminated experimental findings and reinforced Uppsala's reputation as a hub for chemical education. In 2025, the Torbern Bergman Medal was awarded to Pauline Rudd.[42]
Enduring Impact
Torbern Bergman's affinity tables, introduced in his 1775 Dissertation on Elective Attractions, played a pivotal role in bridging the phlogiston theory era to modern chemistry by systematically ordering chemical reactions based on relative strengths of attractions, allowing predictions of reaction outcomes that foreshadowed quantitative thermodynamic principles.by the translator. Bergman's work highlighted the limitations of fixed affinities under varying conditions, paving the way for 19th-century advances by chemists like Claude-Louis Berthollet and Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who integrated dynamic factors into chemical theory.[43][44]In mineralogy, Bergman's chemical classification system, outlined in works like Sciagraphia regni mineralis (1782), categorized minerals into earths, salts, metals, and inflammables based on analytical reactions such as solubility and precipitation, remaining influential until the early 19th century when physical properties gained prominence.
Modern reassessments in geochemistry highlight the relevance of early tungsten investigations, where Bergman suggested preparing the metal by reducing Scheele's tungstic acid.[45][27]Bergman's mentorship of Scheele exemplified his broader legacy in gas chemistry, as their collaboration enabled Scheele's 1772 discovery of oxygen (dephlogisticated air), with histories crediting Bergman's analytical guidance and advocacy—such as his preface to Scheele's Chemical Treatise on Air and Fire (1777)—for advancing pneumatic chemistry beyond phlogiston.
Asteroid (29307) Torbernbergman, discovered in 1993, likewise honors the chemist. Includes over 300 items, including translations printed up to 1956.