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21-453: The medal was first awarded in 1877 to Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff "for their researches & discoveries in spectrum analysis", and has since been awarded 140 times. The medal is awarded annually and, unlike other Royal Society medals (such as the Hughes ), has been awarded without interruption since its inception. The medal has been awarded to multiple individuals in

42-593: A PhD in 1831, Bunsen spent 1832 and 1833 traveling in France, Germany, and Austria. During his journeys, Bunsen met the scientists Friedlieb Runge (who discovered aniline and in 1819 isolated caffeine ), Justus von Liebig in Giessen , and Eilhard Mitscherlich in Bonn . In 1833, Bunsen became a lecturer at Göttingen and began experimental studies of the (in)solubility of metal salts of arsenous acid . His discovery of

63-489: A professorship at the University of Breslau , where he taught for three semesters. In late 1852, Bunsen became the successor of Leopold Gmelin at the University of Heidelberg . There he used electrolysis to produce pure metals , such as chromium , magnesium , aluminium , manganese , sodium , barium , calcium , and lithium . A long collaboration with Henry Enfield Roscoe began in 1852, in which they studied

84-474: A special gas burner by 1855, which was influenced by earlier models. The newer design of Bunsen and Desaga, which provided a very hot and clean flame, is now called simply the " Bunsen burner ", a common laboratory equipment. There had been earlier studies of the characteristic colors of heated elements, but nothing systematic. In the summer of 1859, Kirchhoff suggested to Bunsen that he should try to form prismatic spectra of these colors. By October of that year,

105-427: A time of vigorous and often caustic scientific debates, Bunsen always conducted himself as a perfect gentleman, maintaining his distance from theoretical disputes. He much preferred to work quietly in his laboratory, continuing to enrich his science with useful discoveries. As a matter of principle he never took out a patent. He never married. Despite his lack of pretension, Bunsen was a vivid "chemical character", had

126-496: A well-developed sense of humour, and is the subject of many amusing anecdotes. When Bunsen retired in 1889 at the age of 78, he shifted his work solely to geology and mineralogy , interests which he had pursued throughout his career. He died in Heidelberg, Germany on 16 August 1899, at the age of 88. Antidote An antidote is a substance that can counteract a form of poisoning . The term ultimately derives from

147-460: Is no "antidote" for these venoms; however anaphylactic shock can be treated (e.g. with epinephrine ). Some other toxins have no known antidote. For example, the poison batrachotoxin – a highly poisonous steroidal alkaloid derived from various poison dart frogs , certain beetles, and birds – has no antidote, and as a result, is often fatal if it enters the human body in sufficient quantities. Ingested poisons are frequently treated by

168-595: Is so difficult to work with. Bunsen almost died from arsenic poisoning , and an explosion with cacodyl cost him sight in his right eye. His work with Cadet's fuming liquid was an important step in the development of the radical theory of organic compounds . In 1841, Bunsen created the Bunsen cell battery, using a carbon electrode instead of the expensive platinum electrode used in William Robert Grove 's electrochemical cell. Early in 1851 he accepted

189-756: The Bunsen burner , an improvement on the laboratory burners then in use. Bunsen was born in Göttingen, Germany , in 1811, in what is now the state of Lower Saxony in Germany. Bunsen was the youngest of four sons of the University of Göttingen 's chief librarian and professor of modern philology , Christian Bunsen (1770–1837). After attending school in Holzminden , Bunsen matriculated at Göttingen in 1828 and studied chemistry with Friedrich Stromeyer , mineralogy with Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann , and mathematics with Carl Friedrich Gauss . After obtaining

210-404: The University of Marburg , where he continued his studies on cacodyl derivatives. He was promoted to full professorship in 1841. While at University of Marburg, Bunsen participated in the 1846 expedition for the investigation of Iceland's volcanoes. Bunsen's work brought him quick and wide acclaim, partly because cacodyl, which is extremely toxic and undergoes spontaneous combustion in dry air,

231-785: The Greek term φάρμακον ἀντίδοτον (pharmakon antidoton) , "(medicine) given as a remedy". Antidotes for anticoagulants are sometimes referred to as reversal agents . The antidotes for some particular toxins are manufactured by injecting the toxin into an animal in small doses and extracting the resulting antibodies from the host animals' blood. This results in an antivenom that can be used to counteract venom produced by certain species of snakes , spiders , and other venomous animals. Some animal venoms, especially those produced by arthropods (such as certain spiders , scorpions , and bees ) are only potentially lethal when they provoke allergic reactions and induce anaphylactic shock ; as such, there

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252-673: The constitution of optically active carbon compounds"; in 1903 to Pierre Curie and Marie Curie "for their researches on radium" and in 1968 to John Cornforth and George Joseph Popják "in recognition of their distinguished joint work on the elucidation of the biosynthetic pathway to polyisoprenoids and steroids". Source: Royal Society Archived 2015-09-26 at the Wayback Machine Robert Wilhelm Bunsen Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen ( German: [ˈbʊnzən] ; 30 March 1811 – 16 August 1899)

273-544: The existence of an undiscovered chemical element. After careful distillation of forty tons of this water, in the spring of 1860 he was able to isolate 17 grams of a new element. He named the element " caesium ", after the Latin word for deep blue. The following year he discovered rubidium , by a similar process. In 1860, Bunsen was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . He

294-404: The oral administration of activated charcoal , which adsorbs the poison and flushes it from the digestive tract, thereby removing a large part of the toxin. Poisons which are injected into the body (such as those from bites or stings from venomous animals) are usually treated by the use of a constriction band which limits the flow of lymph and/or blood to the area, thus slowing the circulation of

315-406: The photochemical formation of hydrogen chloride (HCl) from hydrogen and chlorine . From this work, the reciprocity law of Bunsen and Roscoe originated. He discontinued his work with Roscoe in 1859 and joined Gustav Kirchhoff to study emission spectra of heated elements, a research area called spectrum analysis . For this work, Bunsen and his laboratory assistant, Peter Desaga , had perfected

336-456: The poison around the body. This should not be confused with the use of a tourniquet which cuts off blood flow completely – often leading to the loss of the limb. In early 2019, a group of researchers in Australia published the finding of a new box jellyfish venom antidote using CRISPR . The technology had been used to functionally inactivate genes in human cell lines and identify

357-495: The same year: in 1882, for example, it was awarded to Dmitri Mendeleev and Julius Lothar Meyer "for their discovery of the periodic relations of the atomic weights"; in 1883 to Marcellin Berthelot and Julius Thomsen "for their researches in thermo-chemistry"; in 1893 to Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff and Joseph Achille Le Bel "In recognition of their introduction of the theory of asymmetric carbon, and its use in explaining

378-468: The two scientists had invented an appropriate instrument, a prototype spectroscope. Using it, they were able to identify the characteristic spectra of sodium , lithium , and potassium . After numerous laborious purifications, Bunsen proved that highly pure samples gave unique spectra. In the course of this work, Bunsen detected previously unknown new blue spectral emission lines in samples of mineral water from Dürkheim . He guessed that these lines indicated

399-543: The use of iron oxide hydrate as a precipitating agent led to what is still today the most effective antidote against arsenic poisoning . This interdisciplinary research was carried on and published in conjunction with the physician Arnold Adolph Berthold. In 1836, Bunsen succeeded Friedrich Wöhler at the Polytechnic School of Kassel ( German : Baugewerkschule Kassel ). Bunsen taught there for three years, and then accepted an associate professorship at

420-480: Was a German chemist . He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff . The Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy is named after Bunsen and Kirchhoff. Bunsen also developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry , and did early work in the field of organic arsenic chemistry. With his laboratory assistant Peter Desaga , he developed

441-512: Was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1862. In 1877, Robert Bunsen together with Gustav Robert Kirchhoff were the first recipients of the prestigious Davy Medal "for their researches and discoveries in spectrum analysis". Bunsen was one of the most universally admired scientists of his generation. He was a master teacher, devoted to his students, and they were equally devoted to him. At

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