Berzelius, Jöns Jakob

[person]

Swedish chemist and medical doctor born in Väversunda, Ostergötland (1779-1848). While studying for his medical degree, Berzelius experimented with the use of electric shock to treat patients with various diseases. He is most famous for a series of experiments that proved that elements in inorganic compounds are bound together in definite proportions. In studying compounds, he discovered cerium, selenium, and thorium. With his experimental results, he was able to determine the atomic weights of nearly all elements then known.