Chemistry, atomic weights and chemical notation · 1779–1848

Jöns Jacob Berzelius

Berzelius ran a Stockholm laboratory that combined careful gravimetric analysis with an organizing theory: that chemical combination is electrical, with elements ranged from electropositive to electronegative. He determined atomic weights for most known elements to an accuracy that stood for decades, introduced the letter symbols and formula notation still in use, and trained or corresponded with much of the next generation of European chemists. His interests were wide enough that new elements appeared in his work as by-products of analysis rather than as the object of a search.