Julius Lothar Meyer facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Julius Lothar von Meyer
Julius Lothar Meyer
Born	August 19, 1830 Varel, Lower Saxony, Germany
Died	April 11, 1895 (aged 65) Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Known for	Periodic table of chemical elements
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	University of Tübingen
Influences	Robert Bunsen

Julius Lothar von Meyer (born August 19, 1830 – died April 11, 1895) was an important German chemist. He is famous for his work on the periodic table of chemical elements. He worked alongside another famous chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, to help create the first versions of this table. He also worked with Robert Bunsen, who invented the Bunsen burner.

Who Was Lothar Meyer?

Julius Lothar von Meyer was born in Varel, Germany. He grew up to become a brilliant scientist. He studied many subjects, including medicine, mathematics, and physics, before focusing on chemistry. His deep understanding of these different fields helped him make big discoveries in chemistry.

Meyer's Early Life and Studies

Lothar Meyer began his studies in medicine. But he soon became very interested in chemistry. He studied at several universities in Germany. These included the University of Würzburg and the University of Heidelberg. At Heidelberg, he worked with Robert Bunsen. Bunsen was a well-known chemist who taught Meyer a lot.

Discovering the Periodic Table

Meyer is best known for his work on the periodic table. This table organizes all the known chemical elements. It arranges them based on their properties. Elements with similar properties are grouped together. This makes it easier to understand how they behave.

How Meyer Helped Create the Periodic Table

In the 1860s, scientists were trying to find a way to organize the elements. Meyer noticed a pattern when he looked at the atomic weights of elements. He saw that certain properties, like how elements react, repeated in a regular way. This repeating pattern is called "periodicity."

In 1864, Meyer published a table of 28 elements. He grouped them by their valency. Valency is how many chemical bonds an element can form. Later, in 1868, he created a more complete table. This table included almost all the known elements at the time. It also showed how the atomic volume of elements changed in a periodic way. Atomic volume is the space an atom takes up.

Meyer and Mendeleev: Two Great Minds

At almost the same time, another chemist, Dmitri Mendeleev, also developed a periodic table. Both Meyer and Mendeleev came up with very similar ideas. They both saw the importance of atomic weights. They also understood that elements had repeating properties.

Even though they worked separately, their discoveries supported each other. This showed that the periodic law was a real scientific principle. Meyer's work focused more on the physical properties of elements. Mendeleev's work was more about predicting new elements. Today, the periodic table is a fundamental tool in chemistry. It helps scientists understand and predict how elements will behave.

Meyer's Legacy in Chemistry

Lothar Meyer's contributions helped shape modern chemistry. His periodic table was a big step forward. It provided a clear way to organize elements. It also helped future scientists discover new elements. His ideas are still taught in schools and universities today.

Images for kids

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  A similar graph from a 1901 issue of PopSci magazine. (The noble gasses marked with arrows were not discovered at the time of Meyer.)

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  Lothar Meyer's periodic table, published in "Die modernen Theorien der Chemie" (1864)

See also

In Spanish: Julius Lothar Meyer para niños