faced a problem that he did not have time to solve, he turned to Scheffer and
expressed a preconceived opinion. This would immediately anger Scheffer, who
worked day and night in his laboratory to find the truth. Fortunately, he would
always admit if von Swab actually had been correct. Scheffer’s habit of getting into
disputes was challenging for his friends, Bergman wrote, but the reason was that he
was so used to criticise his own ideas, and his main focus was always on finding the
truth.
Finally, Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (1722–1765; Fig. 9.3) came from a
Swedish-Finnish noble family, several members of which had high positions in the
Swedish army. His main contributions to science were his discovery of nickel in
1751 [10] and his 1758 book on mineralogy, which introduced a purely chemical
system for classifying minerals (Sect. 25.7). Both Bergman and Scheele regarded
Cronstedt’s book as the standard work on mineralogy to which they always
referred.
Fig. 9.2 Mineralogist Anton von Swab. Plaster medallion by Tobias Sergel. Photo Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
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9 Bergman Becomes a Chemist
expressed a preconceived opinion. This would immediately anger Scheffer, who
worked day and night in his laboratory to find the truth. Fortunately, he would
always admit if von Swab actually had been correct. Scheffer’s habit of getting into
disputes was challenging for his friends, Bergman wrote, but the reason was that he
was so used to criticise his own ideas, and his main focus was always on finding the
truth.
Finally, Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (1722–1765; Fig. 9.3) came from a
Swedish-Finnish noble family, several members of which had high positions in the
Swedish army. His main contributions to science were his discovery of nickel in
1751 [10] and his 1758 book on mineralogy, which introduced a purely chemical
system for classifying minerals (Sect. 25.7). Both Bergman and Scheele regarded
Cronstedt’s book as the standard work on mineralogy to which they always
referred.
Fig. 9.2 Mineralogist Anton von Swab. Plaster medallion by Tobias Sergel. Photo Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
112
9 Bergman Becomes a Chemist