Berzelius, Jöns Jacob

Jöns Jacob Berzelius, (born Aug. 20, 1779, near Linköping, Swed.—died Aug. 7, 1848, Stockholm), one of the founders of modern chemistry. He is especially noted for his determination of atomic weights, the development of modern chemical symbols, his electrochemical theory, the discovery and isolation of several elements, the development of classical analytical techniques, and his investigation of isomerism and catalysis, phenomena that owe their names to him. He was a strict empiricist and insisted that any new theory be consistent with the sum of chemical knowledge.