Anders Gustaf Ekeberg

1767-1813.

Chemist.

Anders Gustaf Ekeberg was the son of shipbuilder Joseph Eric Ekeberg and Hedvig Ulrica Kilberg.

In 1784, Ekeberg enrolled at Uppsala University, where he was taught by Carl Peter Thunberg, among others. After graduation and study trips, Ekeberg became an associate professor of chemistry in 1794.

In 1799, Ekeberg was elected to the Royal Academy of Sciences. In 1802, he discovered the element tantalum (Ta).

An explosion in the early 1800s left Ekeberg blind in one eye.

One of Ekeberg's scientific discoveries was a method for making strong, clear and translucent porcelain. He took the secret of this method to his grave.

His friends carved his name on a stone pillar in the cemetery wall and three words in Latin: Chemico (he was a chemist) Amicitia (friendship) Memor (memory) and the year of his death in Roman letters MDCCCXIII. Photo: Henrik Zetterberg.

The picture shows the Ekeberg Prize awarded by the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center. Photo: TIC.

In recognition of Ekeberg's pioneering work, an award was established in 2017 by the TIC (Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center), to promote the knowledge and understanding of tantalum. The award was named the Anders Gustaf Ekeberg Tantalum Prize ("Ekeberg Prize") in his memory.

 

Burial site: 0101-0030

Image description: Portrait of Anders Gustaf Ekeberg from Mellin, Gustaf Henrik (ed.) 427 porträtter af namnkunniga svenske män och fruntimmer, Stockholm, 1847. Photo: LIBRIS-ID:1579474The image is cropped]
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Henrik Gahn

1820-1874.

Chemist, industrialist, inventor.

Henrik Gahn attended Falu mining school from 1841 to 1842 and was a student at Jernkontoret from 1842 to 1848. He later became director of a lead and silver works in Boda (Rättvik) and devoted himself to forestry, agriculture and chemical experiments.

In 1867, Gahn started a chemical-technical factory at Stora torget in Uppsala with ink, black ink and the disinfectant Aseptin, invented by Gahn, as products. Gahn's inventions played a major role in the company's success.

The company had many other chemical-technical products and was known for its soap range. From 1899, the factory was located in the Gudrun district, at Kålsängsgränd 4 in Uppsala.

The company continued after Gahn's death under the name Henrik Gahns AB in other premises and in 1964, the company was bought by Barnängen who closed the factory in 1968.

Soap packaging in the factory, Uppsala 1917, photo: UUB.

Factory staff, Uppsala 1917, photo: UUB.

Burial site: 0140-1608

Image description: Henrik Gahn, 1870s. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Svante Arrhenius

1859-1927.

Physicist, chemist.

Svante Arrhenius was born at Wik Castle outside Uppsala, where his father was a steward.

He was one of the foremost natural scientists of his time and was the first Swede to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903 for his work on the electrolytic dissociation theory from 1887. It completely changed chemists' understanding of acids, bases and salts.

From the mid-1890s, Arrhenius' interests expanded to geophysics and cosmic physics. He considered himself a physicist but his main discoveries were mainly in chemistry.

From 1905 Arrhenius was the director of the Nobel Institute for Physical Chemistry, established by the Academy of Sciences in the same year.

Arrhenius also became internationally known as a popular science writer through the publication of The Evolution of Worlds (1906), Man in the Face of the World Riddle (1907), Smallpox and its Control (1930), The Fate of the Stars (1915) and Chemistry and Modern Life (1919).

 

Burial site: 0152-0062

Image description: Svante Arrhenius, year unknown. Photo: Unknown photographer / Tekniska Museet. [The image is cropped]
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