Abstract
Carl Wilhelm Scheele (Stralsund, 9 or 19 December 1742–Köping, 21 or 26 May 1786) was born at Stralsund, then the chief town of Swedish Pomerania (it became German in 1825). The date of birth of 9 December was given by J. C. Wilcke, the Secretary of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, whose
Carl Wilhelm Scheele, 1742–1786.
mother was Anna Scheele, a female connection of the family. Wilcke on his death in 1796 left a MS. of 226 pages, which was the basis of the notice by C. G. Sjöstén, Secretary of the Academy. This date is preferred by Vicq d’Azyr, Cleve, and Nordenskiöld. The date 19 December was given by Crell and is preferred by Hoefer, Blomstrand, Poggendorff, Zekert,1 and Walden, who point out that the entry of Scheele’s baptism is dated 21 December. Fredga thought either date was possible. The country of origin of the family is doubtful. Nordenskiöld thought it was Sweden; Thomson1 and Zekert that it was North Germany, where his ancestors included an admiral and a bishop, Fredga thought it was Hannover. Thomson found no portrait of Scheele in Sweden, no trace of him in Köping, and no personal remains except the collection of his letters then in Gahn’s possession. Thomson thought Scheele wrote his papers in German but Dobbin found that many were written originally in Swedish.
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Footnotes
Anon. in Pharm. Rundschau (New York), 1886, iv, 143,162; Anon, in Pharm. J., 1893, xxiii, 568 (sep. reprint, 1893, with portr. by Falander); Anon., ib., 1895, xxv, 621; J. Black, Lectures on Chemistry, Edinburgh, 1803, i, 396; C. W. Blomstrand, Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Minnesteckning föredragen införKongl. Veiensk. Akad. på 100: de årsdagen af Scheeles död, 1886 (not seen); U. Boklund, C. W. Scheele Bruna Boken, Stockholm, 1961; Browne, J. Chem. Educ., 1940, xvii, 53 (Scheele’s laboratories); Cap, 1864, ii, 233–72; P. T. Cleve, Carl Wilhelm Scheele; Ett Minnesblad på hundrade årsdagen af hans död, Köping [1886] (portrait by Falander); Cornell, Ann. Sci., 1936, i, 219; Crell, Ann., 1787, i, 175–92 (reprod. in Hermbstädt’s ed. of Scheele’s Sammtliche physische und chemische Werke, Berlin, 1793, i, xix f.; English (with Scheele’s essays), in Crell’s Chemical Journal, 3 vols., London, 1791–3); H. Davy, (1), Elements of Chemical Philosophy, 1812, i, 38; (2), Works, 1840, vii, 118; id., in J. Davy, Memoirs of Sir H. Davy, 1836, i, 225; Van Deventer, Chem. Weekblad, 1928, xxv, 101 (Scheele’s synthesis of KCN); L. Dobbin, Collected Papers of Carl Wilhelm Scheele, translated from the Swedish and German Originals, London, 1931 (intro.); Dumas, (2), 1878, 94; F. A. Fluckiger, Arch. Pharm., 1886, xxiv, 369, 417; Pharm. Rundschau (New York), 1886, iv, 188, 208; Fourcroy, (2), 1796, iii, 524–41; A. Fredga, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Levnadstekningar över K. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens ledmöter, 119, Stockholm, 1943; Gmelin, (1), iii, 257; Grimaux, Rev. gen. Sci., 1890, i, 1 (letter from Scheele to Lavoisier); Hildebrand, Lychnos, 1936, i, 76 (b. 9 December); E. Hjelt, Chem. Ztg., 1913, xxxvii, 277 (letters of Black on Scheele); Hoefer, (1), ii, 450–72; Jörgensen, Samml. chem. u. chem. techn. Vorträge (ed. Herz), 1909, xiv, 111–72; Kopp, (1), i, 255; Lefnadsteckningar öfver Kongl. Svenska Vetensk. Akad. efter år 1854 aflidnaledamoter, Stockholm, 1891, iii, 1–38 (not seen); G. Lockemann, in G. Bugge, Das Buck der grossen Chemiker, Berlin, 1929, i, 274; id., Pharm. Ztg., 1936, lxxxi, 604–8; id., Geschichte der Chemie, Berlin, 1950, i, 115 (b. 21 December 1742); J. G. Macintosh, Scheele’s Chemical Essays, with additions and life, etc., London, 1901; A. E. Nordenskiöld, Karl Wilhelm Scheele; Nachgelassene Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, Stockholm, 1892 (another edition in Swedish, Efterlemnade Bref och Anteckningar, Stockholm, 1892) (vii (life), xxxv–xli (list of Scheele’s printed works), xlii–iii (list of biographies); 491 pp., 2 pp. symbols, iv ll. facsim., contents); Baron Nils Adolf Erik von Nordenskiöld (Helsingfors, 18 November 1832–1901), was at first professor of chemistry and mineralogy in the Carolinian Institute in Stockholm, then the famous explorer; Nordstrom, Lychnos, 1942, vii, 177 (letters, etc.; important); C. W. Oseen, (1) Torbern Bergman och Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Stockholm, 1940 (not seen); (2) Carl Wilhelm Scheele Manuskript 1756–1777. Tolkning av C. W. Oseen, Stockholm, 1942 (173 pp.) and vol. of reproductions (Ljustryck, 182 pp.); Partington, Nature, 1931, cxxviii, 1023; Poggendorff, (1), ii, 776, 1439; C. G. Sjösten, Åminnelsetal… öfver … C. Vilhelm Scheele den 14 Oct. 1799, Stockholm, 1801 (not seen); T. Thomson, Ann. Phil., 1814, iv, 16, 311; id., (1), ii, 54; id., (5), 1813, 76–8; id., Heat and Electricity, 1840, 276 (‘a model in chemical researches’); Thorpe, Essays, 1902, 60; Tilden, Famous Chemists, 1921, 53 f.; Vicq d’Azyr, 1805, ii, 19–47 (the result of some months of work, ib., i, 68); Walden, Z. anorg. Chem., 1943, ccl, 230 (b. 19, not 9, December 1742); O. Zekert, (1) Carl Wilhelm Scheele sein Leben und seine Werke, Mittenwald (Bavaria), 7 parts, 1931, 1932 (pts. i–ii, pp. 7–39) and (pts. iii–vii, sep. pagin., 3–303) 1933; issued in complete form in 1934 (Isis, 1935, xxiv, 226); medallion portr. of Scheele aged about 25, ii, 34; (2) id., Pharm. Monatshefte, 1936, xvii, 105–7; 1937, xviii, 107 (papers in vol. for 1920 not available): (3) id., Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Vienna, 1936 (with Falander’s portr.).
Ersch and Gruber, Allgemeine Encyclopädie, 1847, xlvi, 376.
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H. Gahn, in Medical and Philosophical Commentaries by a Society in Edinburgh, ed. Duncan, Edinburgh, 1783, vii, 438 (BM 48. b. 1): ‘magnesia nigra is reducible to a new semi-metal; and that the marmor metallicum, or heavy spar, is a compound of vitriolic acid and a new species of earth, whose attraction to the vitriolic acid is very great. Both these have been made by my brother.’
Birch, History of the Royal Society, 1756, ii, 495.
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Keir, A Treatise on the Various Kinds of Permanently Elastic Fluids, or Gases, 2 ed., London, 1779, 30.
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Partington, J.R. (1962). Chemistry in Scandinavia. II. Scheele. In: A History of Chemistry. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00309-9_6
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