Heinrich Gustav Magnus' father, the prosperous founder of a large trading firm, was able to provide his son with private instruction in mathematics and natural science. Magnus entered the University of Berlin in 1822; and in 1825 he published his first paper, an investigation of pyrophoric iron, cobalt, and nickel carried out under the direction of Eilhard Mitscherlich, discoverer of the law of isomorphism. He received his doctorate in September 1827 with a dissertation on tellurium.
Heinrich Gustav Magnus' father, the prosperous founder of a large trading firm, was able to provide his son with private instruction in mathematics and natural science. Magnus entered the University of Berlin in 1822; and in 1825 he published his first paper, an investigation of pyrophoric iron, cobalt, and nickel carried out under the direction of Eilhard Mitscherlich, discoverer of the law of isomorphism. He received his doctorate in September 1827 with a dissertation on tellurium.
Heinrich Gustav Magnus was a German experimental scientist. His area of research was mostly in chemistry though his later research was mostly in physics.
Background
Heinrich Gustav Magnus was born on May 2, 1802, Berlin, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire (now Berlin, Germany) to the wealthy Jewish family of a cloth and silk merchant Immanuel Meyer Magnus (baptized Johann Matthias Magnus). One of his five brothers, Eduard Magnus (1799-1872), was a notable portrait painter.
Education
Heinrich Gustav Magnus' father, the prosperous founder of a large trading firm, was able to provide his son with private instruction in mathematics and natural science. Magnus entered the University of Berlin in 1822; and in 1825 he published his first paper, an investigation of pyrophoric iron, cobalt, and nickel carried out under the direction of Eilhard Mitscherlich, discoverer of the law of isomorphism. After receiving his doctorate in September 1827 with a dissertation on tellurium, Magnus took the advice of Mitscherlich, Heinrich and Gustav Rose, and Friedrich Wöhler, all former students of Berzelius, and in October 1827 went to Stockholm to study with the great Swedish chemist, who became his lifelong friend and adviser. Later he spent some time in Paris during 1828 and 1829 studying under Gay-Lussac and Thénard.
It was in Berzelius’ laboratory that Heinrich Gustav Magnus not only discovered the first platinum-ammine compound (Magnus’ green salt [Pt(NH3)4][PtCl4]) and its related potassium salt (K2[PtCl4]) but also worked on the addition compound of ethylene and platinous chloride later described by the Danish chemist W. C. Zeise (Zeise’s salt, K[Pt(C2H4)Cl3]). In the summer of 1828 Magnus returned to Berlin, where, with the exception of a visit to Paris during 1828 and 1829, he remained until his death. His Habilitations-schrift on mineral analysis (1831) permitted him to begin lecturing on technology at the university and on chemistry at the municipal trade school but led to a break with his teacher Mitscherlich, who regarded the young Privatdozent as a dangerous competitor. In 1833 Magnus was appointed associate professor and in 1845 professor of technology and physics at the University of Berlin, where he also served as rector during 1861 and 1862.
Originally Judaist, Magnus' father Immanuel Meyer Magnus was baptized with his sons (including Heinrich Gustav) in 1807 in Berlin.
Views
As was true of most chemists of the time, Magnus’ research interests were varied. From an initial interest in mineral analysis, he turned to inorganic chemistry, discovering periodic acid and its salts in 1833; organic chemistry, discovering ethionic and isethionic acids in 1833-1839 and the polymerization of hydrocarbons on heating in 1853; physiological chemistry, studying the oxygen and carbon dioxide content of blood in 1837 and agricultural chemistry in 1849. Magnus gradually turned to physicochemical and eventually purely physical investigations, which constitute his most important scientific achievements. Among these are his contributions to the theory of heat, thermal expansion of gases, boiling of liquids, vapor formation, electrolysis (Magnus’ rule), induced and thermoelectric currents, optics, hydrodynamics, magnetism, and mechanics. Although his most important work was in physics, he never ceased investigating chemical problems in his private laboratory. These later chemical works, however, never led to results of general significance but served merely for his own instruction.
Membership
Magnus became a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1840 and was one of the founding members of the German Chemical Society (1868). He also was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society.
French Academy of Sciences
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France
Royal Society
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United Kingdom
Berlin Academy of Sciences
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Germany
German Chemical Society
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Germany
Personality
Neither a theoretician nor an original thinker, Magnus was, however, an acute, conscientious, and diligent experimenter who uncovered much valuable physical and chemical information - notably the Magnus effect.
Connections
In 1840 Heinrich Gustav Magnus married Bertha Humblot who was of a French Huguenot family settled in Berlin. They had a son and two daughters together.