1. Jean Servais Stas was a Belgian analytical chemist who accurately measured the atomic weight of carbon.
11 Facts About Jean Stas
1. 2.
Jean Stas later switched to chemistry and worked at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Dumas.
3.
In 1840, Jean Stas was appointed professor at the Royal Military School in Brussels.
4.
Jean Stas acquired international fame by determining the atomic weights of the elements more accurately than had ever been done before, using an atomic mass of 16 for oxygen as his standard.
5.
Jean Stas's results disproved the hypothesis of the English physicist William Prout that all atomic weights must be integer multiples of that of hydrogen.
6.
Jean Stas's research indicated that in certain reactions the loss or gain could not have been more than from 2 to 4 parts in 100,000.
7.
In 1850, Jean Stas gave the evidence that the Belgian Count Hippolyte Visart de Bocarme killed his brother-in-law by poisoning him with nicotine.
8.
Jean Stas retired in 1869 because of problems with his voice caused by a throat ailment.
9.
Jean Stas became commissioner of the mint, but resigned in 1872 because he disagreed with the government's monetary policy.
10.
Jean Stas died in Brussels and was buried at Leuven.
11.
Jean Stas was presented with a medal in his honor sculpted by Belgian engraver Alphonse Michaux and with an album containing accolades authored by scientific societies from around the world.