oa Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner’s Feuerzeug

Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, born in 1780, was the Professor of Chemistry and Technology at the University of Jena, from 1810 to 1849. During this time he observed the action of platinum black on hydrogen, which led to his invention of the pneumatic gas lighter (Feuerzeug) and to Berzelius’concept of catalysis, besides making other contributions to pure and applied chemistry. On the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his death in 1849 a Feslkolloquium was held to commemorate his work at the Friedrich-Schiller- University of Jena. Here we describe some aspects of his life and work.