Robert Bunsen
MAR 30, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030931
It’s the birthday of Robert Bunsen, who was born in 1811 in Göttingen, Germany. Bunsen studied at the University of Göttingen, where he later became a professor. Chemistry students mostly know Bunsen thanks to the burner he invented, but he also made several important scientific discoveries. Working with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff, Bunsen pioneered the use of emission spectroscopy in chemical analysis. With that technique, Bunsen and Kirchhoff discovered the elements cesium and rubidium. Bunsen evidently valued physics. He once said, “A chemist who is not a physicist is nothing at all.”
Date in History: 30 March 1811
© 2015. American Institute of Physics