Viktor Meyer

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Viktor Meyer (8 September 1848 – 8 August 1897) was a German chemist and significant contributor to knowledge of both organic and inorganic chemistry. He is best known for inventing an apparatus for determining vapour densities, the Viktor Meyer apparatus, and as the discoverer of the heterocyclic compound thiophene. Viktor Meyer was born in Berlin (1848) as the son of trader and cotton printer Jacques Meyer and Bertha Meyer. His parents were Jewish, though he was not actively raised in the Jewish faith. Later, he was confirmed by the reformed Jewish Church. He married a Christian woman (Hedwig Davidson) and raised his children as such. In 1865, not even 17 years old but pushed by his parents, Meyer started studying chemistry at the University of Berlin in 1865, the year that August Wilhelm von Hofmann succeeded Eilhard Mitscherlich as the chair of chemistry there. After one semester, Meyer went to Heidelberg to work under Robert Bunsen, there also hearing lectures on organic chemistry by Emil Erlenmeyer. As no research was needed under Bunsen at the time, Meyer received his doctorate in 1867, at the age of nineteen. This opened the doors to a very successful career, becoming one of the most important chemists of his time. Overworked and overtaxed, his nervous system started to suffer, leading to several minor and major nervous breakdowns during the last years of his life. He always failed to recover completely, yet decided to continue his work. He took sleeping pills to fall asleep, but these had a damaging effect on his nervous system as well. In one of his depressions, Meyer decided to take his own life and committed suicide by taking cyanide. He died at the age of forty-nine during the night of August 7 - August 8, 1897 in Heidelberg. It was a shock at the time, as Meyer was considered a highly gifted scientist by his colleagues, and a very talented teacher by his students.

He is sometimes referred to as Victor Meyer, a name used in some of his publications.

Contents

[edit] Career

Meyer's professional career:

1867 Assistant at the laboratory of Robert Bunsen, analyzing mineral water for the government of Baden and helping students preparing their examinations
1868 Studying organic chemistry at the Gewerbe-Akademie in Berlin, guided by Adolf von Baeyer (until 1871)
1871 Position as Professor extraordinarius of organic chemistry at the Polytechnikum of Stuttgart, allowed without habilitation
1872 Position as Professor ordinarius at the Polytechnikum of Zurich
1885 Position at the University of Göttingen, occupying the famous Chair of Friedrich Wöhler
1889 Taking over the Chair of Robert Bunsen at the University of Heidelberg; Meyer was requested (by Bunsen) to take this position in 1888, but only complied after a second request in 1889

Scientific contributions:

  • Synthesis of aromatic carboxylic acids from sulfonic acid and formiates (1869).
  • Nitroalkanes from alkyl iodides and silver nitrite (1872).
  • Development of a method to distinguish primary, secondary and tertiary nitroalkanes (1875).
  • Starting with studying physical chemistry in 1876, Meyer created a new method for determining gas density in 1878. This method allowed him to demonstrate how arsenious oxide vapours corresponded to the formula As4O6, that mercury, zinc and cadmium yielded monatomic vapours, and that halogen molecules dissociated into atoms on heating, a phenomenon which he studied until his death. The Victor Meyer apparatus accurately measures the volume of a volatilized substance from which the vapor density of the gas can be derived and also the relative mass.
  • Proposing glucose is an aldehyde and not a ketone, hereby correcting von Baeyer and van't Hoff (1880).
  • Synthesis of aldoximes and ketoximes from hydroxylamine and aldehydes or ketones, hereby discovering a new structural identification and elucidation method (1882, together with Alois Janny).
  • Identification of thiophene as a contaminant in benzene derived from coal (1882). Benzene produced by decarboxylation of benzoic acid did not contain this impurity.
  • First reliable synthesis of pure sulfur mustard (1886, also see Meyer's account on sulfur mustard)
  • Coining of the concepts of stereochemistry and dipole in 1888. Meyer had always been interested in stereochemical problems and was one of the first ones to instruct his pupils with van't Hoff's theory of asymmetric carbon and the Hantzsch-Werner theory.
  • Discovery of iodoso compounds in 1892 by reacting o-iodobenzoic acid with nitric acid.
  • Observation (1892) that ortho-substituted benzoic acid derivatives are esterified with difficulty. This principle is now known as the Victor Meyer esterification law and was discovered in an attempt to esterify o-iodosobenzoic acid.
  • Discovery of iodonium compounds by reacting iodobenzene and iodosobenzene (1894).

Books:

Meyer has written several notable books:

  • Tabellen zur qualitativen Analyse (1884, written together with Frederick Treadwell)
  • Pyrochemische Untersuchungen (1885)
  • Die Thiophengruppe (1888)
  • Chemische Probleme der Gegenwart (1890)
  • Ergebnisse und Ziele der Stereochemischen Forschung (1890)
  • Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie (1893, written together with Paul Jacobson. A very popular book at the time that has been reprinted and reedited several times)
  • Märztage im kanarischen Archipel, ein Ferienausflug nach Teneriffa und Las Palmas (1893, travel guide)

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Richard Meyer. Victor Meyer. Leben und Wirken eines deutschen Chemikers und Naturforschers,1848-1897 (Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, 1917) (note: Richard Meyer is Victor Meyer's brother).

[edit] References

  • W Pötsch. Lexikon bedeutender Chemiker (VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1989) (ISBN 3-8171-1055-3)
  • E von Lippmann. Zeittafeln zur Geschichte der organischen Chemie (Julius Springer, 1921)
  • G Bugge. Das Buch der grossen Chemiker (Verlag Chemie GmbH, 1955)
  • G. M. Richardson (1897). "Obituary (for Viktor Meyer(". Journal of the American Chemical Society 19 (11): 918 - 921. DOI:10.1021/ja02085a010. 
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