The Bunsen burner, the birth of spectral analysis and their
introduction to Turkey

Emre Dölen

Work undertaken to produce and use coal gas for lighting in France and England in the second half of the 18th century was followed by its dissemination through pipes and the wider use of gas lamps in the early 19th century in major European cities. Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899), a leading chemist of the 19th century, discovered Caesium and Rubidium elements, laid down the laws of spectral analysis, and was especially successful in inventing and developing laboratory equipment such as gas analysers, photometers and the Bunsen burner. His idea of mixing air and coal gas before the combustion was the basis of the Bunsen burner, which he developed together with Peter Desaga. Bunsen soon equipped his laboratory in Heidelberg with such burners and first described it in an article dated 1857. The Bunsen burner furthered the research in chemistry and led to the birth of spectral analysis, that Bunsen developed together with Gustav Kirchhoff in Heidelberg.

Spectroscopy and the Bunsen burner was first introduced in Turkey by Dr. Aziz İdris Bey (1840 -1878) who devoted about 10 pages to spectral analysis in his book Kimya-yı Tıbbi (Medical Chemistry, Istanbul 1871). The present paper aims to examine the information 'Crimean' Aziz Bey gives about spectral analysis, the Bunsen burner, and the terminoloy he employed in his book.

Key words: Aziz Bey of Crimea, Bunsen burner, Gustav Kirchhoff, Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, spectral analysis, spectroscopy.