Johann Rudolph Glauber

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Johann Rudolph Glauber

1604-1670

German chemist who founded industrial chemistry. His Furni novi philosophici (1649) offered detailed descriptions of new furnaces, laboratory equipment, and experimental techniques. Glauber pioneered the synthesis of mineral acids and salts (Glauber's "salt" is sodium sulfate); produced benzene and phenol by coal distillation; and derived acetone and acetates from wood distillation. Dass Teutschlands-Wohlfahrt (1661) promoted the economic advancement of Germany with recipes for beer and wine concentrates, use of chemical fertilizers, and suggestions for chemical weaponry. The Pharmacopoea spagyrica (1668) advocated chemical medicines as substitutes for herbal treatments.

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