Jean Stas

<h2 id="life-and-work">Life and work</h2>
<p>Stas was born in <a href="/facts/Leuven/zkKTDkzH">Leuven</a> and trained initially as a physician. He later switched to <a href="/facts/Chemistry/SrNqkGVm">chemistry</a> and worked at the <a href="/facts/%25C3%2589cole_Polytechnique/0DS7aMaR">École Polytechnique</a> in Paris under the direction of <a href="/facts/Jean-Baptiste_Dumas/KYYzQJnb">Jean-Baptiste Dumas</a>. Stas and Dumas established the <a href="/facts/Atomic_weight/A3vbuz2n">atomic weight</a> of <a href="/facts/Carbon/ukrgQexo">carbon</a> by weighing a sample of the pure material, burning it in pure <a href="/facts/Oxygen/acyn6o8r">oxygen</a>, and then weighing the <a href="/facts/Carbon_dioxide/xGzpppEp">carbon dioxide</a> produced.
</p><p>In 1840, Stas was appointed professor at the <a href="/facts/Royal_Military_Academy_(Belgium)/hhkITMz8">Royal Military School</a> in <a href="/facts/Brussels/tNzHrQYP">Brussels</a>. He acquired international fame by determining the atomic weights of the <a href="/facts/Element_(chemistry)/0jducgWD">elements</a> more accurately than had ever been done before, using an <a href="/facts/Atomic_mass/J1FJY9MV">atomic mass</a> of 16 for <a href="/facts/Oxygen/acyn6o8r">oxygen</a> as his standard. His results disproved the hypothesis of the English physicist <a href="/facts/William_Prout/JT6mhP0M">William Prout</a> that all atomic weights must be integer multiples of that of <a href="/facts/Hydrogen/BoYHjl0J">hydrogen</a>. These careful, accurate atomic weight measurements of Stas helped lay the foundation for the <a href="/facts/Periodic_table/umdGIfUb">periodic system of elements</a> of <a href="/facts/Dmitri_Mendeleev/xdouRrx8">Dmitri Mendeleev</a> and others.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a>
</p><p>Following the pioneering work of <a href="/facts/Antoine_Lavoisier/UheVQrhu">Lavoisier</a> and his statement of the <a href="/facts/Conservation_of_mass/fRu05SS1">conservation of mass</a>, the prolonged and exhaustive experiments of Stas supported the strict accuracy of this law in <a href="/facts/Chemical_reaction/GpqWlKrz">chemical reactions</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> even though they were carried out with other intentions. His research<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>  indicated that in certain reactions the loss or gain could not have been more than from 2 to 4 parts in 100,000.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> The difference in the accuracy aimed at and attained by Lavoisier on the one hand, and by <a href="/facts/Edward_Morley/yNp2YFUe">Morley</a> and Stas on the other, is enormous.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p><p>In 1850, Stas gave the evidence that the Belgian Count <a href="/facts/Hippolyte_Visart_de_Bocarm%25C3%25A9/grWSw8Fz">Hippolyte Visart de Bocarmé</a> killed his brother-in-law by poisoning him with <a href="/facts/Nicotine/VQ6HcIrY">nicotine</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a>
</p><p>Stas retired in 1869 because of problems with his voice caused by a throat ailment. He became commissioner of the mint, but resigned in 1872 because he disagreed with the government's <a href="/facts/Monetary_policy/LXehzvG0">monetary policy</a>. Jean Stas died in <a href="/facts/Brussels/tNzHrQYP">Brussels</a> and was buried at <a href="/facts/Leuven/zkKTDkzH">Leuven</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="honors-and-awards">Honors and awards</h2>
<ul><li>Foreign Member, <a href="/facts/Royal_Society_of_London/KI5yXCuV">Royal Society of London</a> (1879)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Davy_Medal/uoqf9fT9">Davy Medal</a> (1885)</li>
<li><a href="http://overpass-turbo.eu/?Q=%5Btimeout%3A20%5D%5Bout%3Ajson%5D%3B%0A%28%0Anode%5B%22name%3Aetymology%3Awikidata%22~%22%28%5E%7C%3B%29%28Q560706%29%28%3B%7C%24%29%22%5D%3B%0Away%5B%22name%3Aetymology%3Awikidata%22~%22%28%5E%7C%3B%29%28Q560706%29%28%3B%7C%24%29%22%5D%3B%0Arelation%5B%22name%3Aetymology%3Awikidata%22~%22%28%5E%7C%3B%29%28Q560706%29%28%3B%7C%24%29%22%5D%3B%0A%3E%3E%3B%0A%29%3B%0Aout%20geom%3B%0A%7B%7Bstyle%3A%0Anode%20%5Bname%3Aetymology%3Awikidata%5D%7B%0A%20%20text%3A%20name%3B%0A%20%20icon-width%3A%2032%3B%7D%0A%7D%7D%0A&R">Streets named after him</a></li></ul>
<p>On May 5, 1891 an event was held recognizing the 50th anniversary of Jean Servais Stas' membership in the <a href="/facts/Royal_Academies_for_Science_and_the_Arts_of_Belgium/vX3kWRul">Royal Academy of Belgium</a>. Various presenters spoke about his significant scientific contributions. He was presented with a medal in his honor sculpted by Belgian engraver <a href="/facts/Alphonse_Michaux/ImqQBIaU">Alphonse Michaux</a> and with an album containing accolades authored by scientific societies from around the world.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>
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<h2 id="selected-writings">Selected writings</h2>
<ul><li>Stas, Jean Servais (1894). L. W. Spring (ed.). <i>Œuvres Complètes</i>. Vol. 1. Brussels.{{cite book}}:  CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)</li>
<li>Stas, Jean Servais (1894). J. B. Depaire (ed.). <a href="https://archive.org/details/oeuvrescomplte02stasuoft"><i>Œuvres Complètes</i></a>. Vol. 2. Brussels: Bruxelles [etc.] C. Muquardt.</li>
<li>Stas, Jean Servais (1894). L. W. Spring (ed.). <a href="https://archive.org/details/oeuvrescomplte03stasuoft"><i>Œuvres Complètes</i></a>. Vol. 3. Brussels: Bruxelles [etc.] C. Muquardt.</li>
<li>Stas, Jean Servais (1865). <i><a href="https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=A673S26295749.1814011&menu=search&aspect=power&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=rev-nbl&ri=&index=.GW&term=Nouvelles+recherches+sur+les+lois+des+proportions+chimiques+%3A+sur+les+poids+atomiques+et+leurs+rapports+mutuels&oper=AND&x=6&y=7&aspect=power&index=.TW&term=&oper=AND&index=.AW&term=&oper=AND&index=.SW&term=&ultype=&uloper=%3D&ullimit=&ultype=&uloper=%3D&ullimit=&sort=">Nouvelles recherches sur les lois des proportions chimiques : sur les poids atomiques et leurs rapports mutuels</a></i>. Brussels: Bruxelles. M. Hayez</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Theodore_William_Richards/W1vrKFUl">Theodore William Richards</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Law_of_reciprocal_proportions/FXg3v8nW">Law of reciprocal proportions</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Mass_spectrometry/RH5WBHJ2">Mass spectrometry</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Toxicology/L6XHRIJH">Toxicology</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul><li>Morley, Edward W. (1892). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EiQDAAAAYAAJ&q=Jean+Stas&pg=PA173">"Jean Servais Stas"</a>. <i>Journal of the American Chemical Society</i>. 14 (7). American Chemical Society: 173–189. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1892JAChS..14..173M">1892JAChS..14..173M</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fja02123a012">10.1021/ja02123a012</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4047133">4047133</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Jean_Timmermans/JDdXvTHv">Timmermans, Jean</a> (1938). "Jean Servais Stas". <i><a href="/facts/Journal_of_Chemical_Education/fy9KJDa9">Journal of Chemical Education</a></i>. 15 (8): 353–357. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1938JChEd..15..353T">1938JChEd..15..353T</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fed015p353">10.1021/ed015p353</a>.- translated into English by Ralph Oesper</li></ul>

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<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Rawson, Don C. (1974). "The process of discovery: Mendeleev and the periodic law". Annals of Science. 31 (3): 181–204. doi:10.1080/00033797400200221. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Matthew Moncrieff Pattison Muir, The Elements of Chemistry (1904) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EwZZAAAAYAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=EwZZAAAAYAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Nouv. Recherches sur los lois des proportions chimiques (1865) 152, 171, 189 <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Conservation of Mass in Chemical Changes"Journal - Chemical Society, London, Vol.64, Part 2 Chemical Society (Great Britain) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=bhQ3AAAAYAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=bhQ3AAAAYAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>William Edwards Henderson, A Course in General Chemistry (1921) <a href="https://archive.org/details/acourseingenera00hendgoog" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/acourseingenera00hendgoog</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Ida Freund, The study of Chemical Composition: an account of its method and historical development, with illustrative quotations (1904) <a href="/wiki/Ida_Freund" target="_blank">/wiki/Ida_Freund</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Wennig, Robert (April 2009). "Back to the roots of modern analytical toxicology: Jean Servais Stas and the Bocarmé murder case". Drug Test Anal. 1 (4). England: 153–5. doi:10.1002/dta.32. PMID 20355192. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>L'Academie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Manifestation en L'Honneur de Jean-Servais Stas a L'Occasion du Cinquantieme Anniversaire de Sa Nomination Comme Membre Titulaire de la Classe des Sciences 1841 - 1891, Bruxelles, 1891. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Jean Stas open-in-new

Jean Stas