chemistry

Wilhelm Homberg

Wilhelm Homberg is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wilhelm Homberg rather than just read about it. In short: Wilhelm Homberg (January 8, 1652 – September 24, 1715), also known as Guillaume Homberg in French, was a German natural philosopher. Life Wilhelm Homberg was the son of John Homberg, a Saxon gentleman, originally from Quedlinburg, who was stripped of his inheritance during the Thirty Years' War.

Key takeaways

Wilhelm Homberg belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wilhelm Homberg to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wilhelm Homberg from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wilhelm Homberg (January 8, 1652 – September 24, 1715), also known as Guillaume Homberg in French, was a German natural philosopher.

Life Wilhelm Homberg was the son of John Homberg, a Saxon gentleman, originally from Quedlinburg, who was stripped of his inheritance during the Thirty Years' War. Wilhelm Homberg was born at Batavia (modern Jakarta) in 1652 while his father was serving as an officer of the Dutch East India Company. Coming to Europe with his family in 1670, he studied law at Jena and Leipzig, and in 1674 became an advocate at Magdeburg. In that town he made the acquaintance of Otto von Guericke, and under his influence determined to devote himself to natural science. He, therefore, travelled in various parts of Europe for study, and after graduating in medicine at Wittenberg, settled in Paris in 1682. From 1685 to 1690 he practised as a physician at Rome; then returning to Paris in 1691, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences and appointed director of communication by Madame Wagner, December 28, 1697. Subsequently he became teacher of physics and chemistry (1702), and private physician (1705) to the duke of Orleans. His death occurred at Paris in 1715.

Scientific work Homberg practised natural philosophy at a time of transition between alchemy and chemistry. Before 1700, most of his work focused on pneumatics and the vacuum, using an improved air pump of his own design. He did attempt chrysopoeia but also he made what are still regarded as solid contributions to chemical and physical knowledge, recording observations on the preparation of Kunkel's phosphorus, on the green colour produced in flames by copper, on the crystallization of common salt, on the salts of plants, on the saturation of bases by acids, on the freezing of water and its evaporation in vacuo, etc. Much of his work was published in the Recueil de l'Académie des Sciences from 1692 to 1714. He is also supposed to be the first one who proposed distillation at reduced pressure to prevent thermal decomposition. The "Sal Sedativum Hombergi" is boracic acid, which he discovered in 1702, and "Homberg's phosphorus" is prepared by fusing sal-ammoniac with quick lime.

Works Fontenelle, "Éloge de Monsieur Homberg", Œuvres de Monsieur de Fontenelle, vol. 2, 1785.

Further reading Peterschmitt, Luc; Franckowiak, Rémi (2005). "La chimie de Homberg: Une vérité certaine dans une physique contestable". Early Science and Medicine. 10 (1): 65–90. doi:10.1163/1573382053123511. Principe, Lawrence M. (2020). The Transmutations of Chymistry: Wilhelm Homberg and the Académie Royale des Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226700816.001.0001. ISBN 9780226700786. S2CID 203260851.

References

Attribution Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Homberg, Wilhelm" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wilhelm Homberg

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wilhelm Homberg claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wilhelm Homberg before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wilhelm Homberg ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wilhelm Homberg

In research: Wilhelm Homberg appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wilhelm Homberg in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wilhelm Homberg is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1652 births, 1715 deaths, 17th-century German chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wilhelm Homberg outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wilhelm Homberg in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wilhelm Homberg means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wilhelm Homberg out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wilhelm Homberg in simple terms?

Wilhelm Homberg (January 8, 1652 – September 24, 1715), also known as Guillaume Homberg in French, was a German natural philosopher. Life Wilhelm Homberg was the son of John Homberg, a Saxon gentleman, originally from Quedlinburg, who was stripped of his inheritance during the Thirty Years' War.

Why does Wilhelm Homberg matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wilhelm Homberg?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wilhelm Homberg.