Bernard Courtois, also spelled Barnard Courtois, (8 February 1777 – 27 September 1838)[1] was a French chemist credited with first isolating iodine, making early photography possible.
By 1811 the Napoleonic Wars had made the government-controlled saltpeter business taper off since there was by then a shortage of wood ashes with which potassium nitrate was made. As an alternative, the needed potassium nitrate was derived from seaweed that was abundant on the Normandy and Brittany shores. The seaweed also had another, yet undiscovered, important chemical. One day towards the end of 1811 while Courtois was isolating sodium and potassium compounds from seaweed ash, he discovered iodine after he added sulfuric acid to the seaweed ash. He was investigating corrosion of his copper vessels when he noticed a vapor given off. It was in the form of an unusual purple vapor. Humphry Davy later records
This substance was accidentally discovered about two years ago by M. Courtois, a manufacturer of saltpetre at Paris. In his processes for procuring soda from the ashes of sea weeds, (cendres de vareck) he found the metallic vessels much corroded; and in searching for the cause of this effect, he made the discovery. The substance is procured from the ashes, after the extraction of the carbonate of soda, with great facility, and merely by the action of sulfuric acid:— when the acid is concentrated, so as to produce much heat, the substance appears as a vapour of a beautiful violet colour, which condenses in crystals having the colour and the lustre of plumbago.[2]
^"Bernard Courtois". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
^Davy, Humphry (1814). "VI. Some experiments and observations on a new substance which becomes a violet coloured gas by heat". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 104: 74–93. doi:10.1098/rstl.1814.0007. S2CID 109845199.
BernardCourtois, also spelled Barnard Courtois, (8 February 1777 – 27 September 1838) was a French chemist credited with first isolating iodine, making...
Courtois may refer to: Courtois-sur-Yonne, a commune in Yonne department, France Courtois, Missouri, an unincorporated community Courtois Creek, a creek...
dark black crystals. Courtois suspected that this material was a new element but lacked funding to pursue it further. Courtois gave samples to his friends...
(particularly lead) in drinking water. Iodine was later discovered by BernardCourtois in 1811 from seaweed ash. Goitre was previously common in many areas...
iodine was discovered by French chemist BernardCourtois in 1811. Courtois gave samples to his friends, Charles Bernard Desormes (1777–1862) and Nicolas Clément...
word θυρεοειδής, meaning 'shield-like/shield-shaped'. French chemist BernardCourtois discovered iodine in 1811, and in 1896 Eugen Baumann documented it...
Giovene discovered that saltpetre also formed in other caves of Apulia. BernardCourtois, who operated a Salpetriere or nitrary and discovered iodine. History...
to give the 1:1 adduct NI3 · NH3. This adduct was first reported by BernardCourtois in 1812, and its formula was finally determined in 1905 by Oswald Silberrad...
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(1852–1939), representative in U.S. Congress from Indiana BernardCourtois (also spelled Barnard Courtois), (1777–1838), French chemist Barnard E. Bee Sr. (1787–1853)...
descriptiones, anatomen atque icones plurimorum in Saint Petersburg. BernardCourtois discovers iodine. Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard...
physician Anne-Caroline Chausson (b. 1977), Olympic medalist in cycling BernardCourtois (1777–1838), discoverer of the element iodine Charles Joseph Minard...
to be called a chronometer. Copley Medal: John Mudge February 12 – BernardCourtois, French chemist (died 1838) April 30 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German...
those by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac on a mysterious substance isolated by BernardCourtois. Davy wrote a paper for the Royal Society on the element, which is...
Iodine was discovered by BernardCourtois, who was using seaweed ash as part of a process for saltpeter manufacture. Courtois typically boiled the seaweed...
September 1 – William Clark (born 1770), American explorer. September 27 – BernardCourtois (born 1777), French chemist. October 1 – Charles Tennant (born 1768)...
September 18 – Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington (b. 1752) September 27 – BernardCourtois, French chemist (b. 1777) October 1 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist...
1847) February 12 Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, French poet (d. 1843) BernardCourtois, French chemist (d. 1838) February 18 – Andreas Arntzen, Norwegian...
founded in Manitoba, Canada. Iodine was discovered by French chemist BernardCourtois. The first novel by Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, was published...
mixture of strontium chloride and mercuric acid. Iodine – Discovered by BernardCourtois in 1811, he lacked the resources to investigate the substance but gave...
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Indian humanitarian and reformer (b. 1772) 1838 – BernardCourtois, French chemist and pharmacist (b. 1777) 1876 – Braxton Bragg, American...
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moderate republicans. He died in Verberie. Toraude, L.-G. (1920–21). "BernardCourtois (1777–1838) et la découverte de l'iode (1811)". Mémoires de l'Académie...
1984 Claude Silberzahn, Commissioner of the Republic 1984 to 1986 BernardCourtois, Commissioner of the Republic 1986 to 24 February 1988 Jacques Dewatre...
Philosophical Journal. In 1811, when the Parisian saltpetre manufacturer BernardCourtois made iodine for the first time from the kelp ash, his discovery was...
1847) February 12 Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, French poet (d. 1843) BernardCourtois, French chemist (d. 1838) February 18 – Andreas Arntzen, Norwegian...
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