Robert Bunsen was a German chemist who, with physicist Gustav Kirchhoff, developed the technique of spectral analysis in 1859, showing that each chemical element burns with its own characteristic pattern of spectral lines. The clean, smokeless gas burner that carries his name, refined in his laboratory, provided the steady, colorless flame the pair needed to see faint spectral lines clearly.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account FieldSourced to the subject's own accountChemistry, spectroscopy 1 Connections
Associated With
Spectroscopy, Concepts Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff developed spectral analysis together from 1859, using the clean Bunsen burner flame to identify elements by their characteristic spectral lines.
Founded
Source Kirchhoff and Bunsen on Spectroscopy (ChemTeam)Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen
Joint founding with Gustav Kirchhoff: their 1859-1861 spectral-analysis work identified the chemical composition of the sun and stars.
Source Astrophysics (Britannica)
Invented
Credited jointly with Gustav Kirchhoff for the 1859 development of practical spectral analysis.
Source Kirchhoff and Bunsen on Spectroscopy (ChemTeam)Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen
Works In
Source Kirchhoff and Bunsen on Spectroscopy (ChemTeam)Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen
Sources
1. Kirchhoff and Bunsen on Spectroscopy (ChemTeam)
Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen, Annalen der Physik und der Chemie, 1860Annalen der Physik, 1860, via chemteam.info
A method of qualitative analysis can be based on these lines, whereby the field of chemical reactions is greatly widened.
- Works In: Chemistry
- Invented: Spectroscope
Founded: Analytical Chemistry, Introductory paragraph
A method of qualitative analysis can be based on these lines, whereby the field of chemical reactions is greatly widened and hitherto inaccessible problems are solved.
View the Source Astrophysics (Britannica)
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