27 Facts About Johan Gadolin

Johan Gadolin was a Finnish chemist, physicist and mineralogist.

Johan Gadolin is considered the founder of Finnish chemistry research, as the second holder of the Chair of Chemistry at the Royal Academy of Turku.

Johan Gadolin was ennobled for his achievements and awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir and the Order of Saint Anna.

Johan Gadolin began to study mathematics at the Royal Academy of Turku when he was fifteen.

Johan Gadolin was fluent in Latin, Finnish, Russian, German, English and French in addition to his native Swedish.

Johan Gadolin was a candidate for the chair of chemistry at Uppsala in 1784, but Johann Afzelius was selected instead.

Johan Gadolin became an extraordinary professor at Abo in 1785.

Johan Gadolin worked with Lorenz Crell, editor of the journal Chemische Annalen in Germany, and with Adair Crawford and Richard Kirwan in Ireland.

Johan Gadolin was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1790.

Johan Gadolin became the ordinary professor of chemistry at the Royal Academy of Turku in 1797, after the death of Pehr Adrian Gadd.

Johan Gadolin retained the position until his retirement in 1822.

Johan Gadolin was one of the first chemists who gave laboratory exercises to students.

Johan Gadolin even allowed the students to use his private laboratory.

Johan Gadolin's Inledning till Chemien was the first chemistry textbook in the Nordic countries that questioned the theory of phlogiston and discussed the role of oxygen in combustion in a modern way.

Johan Gadolin studied the relationship of heat to chemical changes, in particular, the ability of different substances to absorb heat and the absorption of heat during state changes.

Johan Gadolin published important papers on specific heat by 1784, and on the latent heat of steam in 1791.

Johan Gadolin demonstrated that the heat of ice was equal to the heat of snow, and published a standard set of heat tables.

Johan Gadolin became famous for his description of the first rare-earth element, yttrium.

In 1792 Johan Gadolin received a sample of black, heavy mineral found in a quarry in a Swedish village Ytterby near Stockholm by Carl Axel Arrhenius.

The mineral that Johan Gadolin examined was named gadolinite in 1800.

Johan Gadolin is famous for publishing one of the earliest examples of counter-current condensers.

Johan Gadolin was knighted and is registered under number 245 in the Finnish House of Nobility.

Johan Gadolin was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir and the Order of Saint Anna.

Johan Gadolin married first, at age 35, Hedvig Tihleman, with whom he had nine children.

Johan Gadolin retired as professor emeritus in 1822 at age 62, a mandatory age of retirement.

Johan Gadolin moved to a country estate where he lived for another 30 years.

Johan Gadolin died in Mynamaki, Finland on 15 August 1852.