Johan August Arfvedson (January 12, 1792 – October 28, 1841) was a Swedish chemist who discovered the chemical element lithium in 1817 by isolating it as a salt.
Life and work
Arfvedson belonged to a wealthy bourgeois family, the son of the wholesale merchant and factory owner Jacob Arfvedson and his spouse, Anna Elisabeth Holtermann. The younger Arfwedson matriculated as a student at the University of Uppsala in 1803 (at the time, matriculating at a young age was common for aristocratic and wealthy students), completed a degree in Law in 1809 and a second degree in mineralogy in 1812. In the latter year, he received an unpaid position in the Royal Board of Mines, where he advanced to the position of notary (still without a salary) in 1814.
In Stockholm, Arfvedson knew the chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius and received access to his private laboratory, where he discovered the element lithium in 1817, during analysis of the mineral petalite. The actual isolation of lithium metal would be done by others.
In 1818-1819, Arfwedson made a European journey, partly in the society of Berzelius. After coming home, Arfwedson built his own laboratory on his estate. He spent the larger part of his remaining life administering and multiplying his inherited wealth.
The rare mineral arfvedsonite was named after him.
See also
Further reading
- Weeks, Mary Elvira; Larson, Mary E. (1937). "J. A. Arfwedson and his Services to Chemistry". Journal of Chemical Education (9): 403 – 407.
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