Background
Pál Kitaibel was born on February 3, 1757, in Nagymarton, Hungary (now Mattersdorf, Austria). He was the son of a farmer.
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
Kitaibel studied theology, jurisprudence, and finally medicine at the University of Pest (Eötvös Loránd University).
Austrian stamp commemorating Pál Kitaibel.
Botanist chemist explorer mineralogist scientist
Pál Kitaibel was born on February 3, 1757, in Nagymarton, Hungary (now Mattersdorf, Austria). He was the son of a farmer.
Kitaibel studied theology, jurisprudence, and finally medicine at the University of Pest (Eötvös Loránd University).
Although Kitaibel qualified as a physician, he never practiced medicine. He remained at the university as an assistant to Jacob Joseph Winterl, at the Institute for Chemistry and Botany.
Kitaibel spent almost his entire life traveling through Hungary, studying the plant and animal life, collecting minerals, and analyzing mineral waters. His travel journals reveal a wide spectrum of interests, extending as far as folklore. Following Winterl’s death, the institute was divided into two sections and Kitaibel was appointed to the professorship of botany. Because of his constant travels he published little and almost never lectured.
Kitaibel classified more than fifty unknown plants, many of which bear his name (for example, Kitaibelia vitifolia), and published a three-volume flora of Hungary (1799-1812). He also recorded and named several species of animals. His botanical and mineralogical collection became the basis for the natural history collection of the Hungarian National Museum. In addition, he wrote a description of Hungarian mineral springs, published after his death by a colleague. His travel accounts were also published posthumously.
Kitaibel was the discoverer of chloride of lime, and he even observed its bleaching effect (1795). But he did not consider its potential industrial use for textile bleaching, probably because at the time there was no important textile factory in Hungary. In 1798, unaware of Franz Muller’s earlier discovery (1784), Kitaibel independently discovered the element later named tellurium in a mineral from the Borzsony Mountains. As a result, he became involved in a heated and unjustified priority dispute with H. M. Klaproth.
Kitaibel was a member of the scientific academies of Gottingen, Berlin, Munich and Saint Petersburg.
It is not known whether Kitaibel was married, and no information about his relatives is available.