Robert bunsen born

(b Göttingen, Germany, 31 March ; d. Heidelberg, Germany, 16 August )

Chemistry.

Bunsen was the youngest of four sons born to Christian Bunsen, chief librarian and professor of modern languages at the University of Göttingen.

His ancestors on his father’s side had lived in Arolsen, where many of them held public office, frequently as master of the mint; his mother was the daughter of a British-Hanoverian officer named Quensel.

Bunsen began school in Göttingen but transferred to the Gymnasium at Holzminden, from which he graduated in Returning to Göttingen, Bunsen entered the university, where he studied chemistry physics, mineralogy, and mathematics.

His chemistry teacher was Friedrich Stromeyer, who had discovered cadmium in Bunsen received his doctorate in , presenting a thesis in physics: “Enumeratio ac descriptio hygrometrorum”.

Aided by a grant from the Hanoverian government, Bunsen toured Europe from to , visiting factories, laborato