Jędrzej Śniadecki

Jędrzej Śniadecki
1843 painting by Aleksander Sleńdziński
Born	30 November 1768 Żnin, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died	12 May 1838 (aged 69) Vilnius
Resting place	Rossa Cemetery
Nationality	Polish
Occupation	Writer, physician, chemist, biologist
Children	Ludwika Śniadecka (1802-1866)
Relatives	Jan Śniadecki (brother)

Jędrzej Śniadecki (archaic English: Andrew Sniadecki; 30 November 1768 – 12 May 1838) was a Polish writer, physician, chemist and biologist. His achievements include the creation of modern Polish terminology in the field of chemistry.

Life and work

Śniadecki was born in Żnin in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After completing his university studies, he was chosen to be the first professor of medicine and chemistry at the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's "Main School," which in 1803 was renamed the Imperial University of Vilna. One of his students was Ignacy Domeyko. Śniadecki was also one of the main organizers and head of the recently created Wilno Medical-Surgical Academy. From 1806-36 he headed the local Medical Scientific Society, one of the premier scientific societies in the region.

Śniadecki's most important book was Początki chemii (The Beginnings of Chemistry), the first Polish-language chemistry textbook, prepared for the Commission of National Education. It was considered one of the best Polish scientific textbooks of the age and was used in Polish universities well into the 1930s. Śniadecki was also known as a writer of less serious works; a co-founder of Towarzystwo Szubrawców (the Wastrel Society), he contributed articles to its satirical weekly, Wiadomości Brukowe (The Gutter News). He also wrote copiously in Wiadomości Wileńskie (The Vilnius' News), the largest and most prestigious daily in Vilnius.

In 1807, Śniadecki announced he had discovered a new metal in platinum and called it "vestium". Three years later, Académie de France published a note saying that the experiment could not be reproduced. Discouraged by this, Śniadecki dropped all his claims and did not talk about vestium anymore. Nevertheless, there have been speculations that this new element was ruthenium, found thirty-seven years later by Karl Klaus. However, they are not accepted by modern sources.^[1]

Jędrzej was the brother of Jan Śniadecki and father of Ludwika Śniadecka. He died in Vilnius and is buried at the Rasos Cemetery.

See also

• History of philosophy in Poland
• List of Poles

Notes

1. Marshall, James L.; Marshall, Virginia R. (2010). "Reinvestigating vestium, one of the spurious platinum metals" (PDF). Bull. Hist. Chem. 35 (1): 33–39. ISSN 1053-4385.

Further reading

• Zacharewicz, Witold (1975). Jędrzej Śniadecki: his life and scientific work.
• Thomas, Joseph (2010-03-30). The Universal Dictionary of Biography and Mythology, Vol. IV (in Four Volumes): Pro - Zyp. ISBN 978-1-61640-075-0.
• Sokol, Stanley S; Mrotek Kissane, Sharon F; Abramowicz, Alfred L (1992). The Polish biographical dictionary: profiles of nearly 900 Poles who have made lasting contributions to world civilization. ISBN 978-0-86516-245-7.
• Bilski R (October 1964). "Jedrzej Sniadecki (1768-1838) Pioneer of Modern Resuscitation". Polski Tygodnik Lekarski (Warsaw, Poland : 1960) (in Polish) 19: 1659–1661. PMID 14317116.
• Mozołowski, W. (1939). "Jedrzej Sniadecki (1768--1838) on the Cure of Rickets". Nature 143 (3612): 121. doi:10.1038/143121a0.
• Mietkiewski E (1987). "Jedrzej Sniadecki, 1768-1838". Acta Physiologica Polonica 38 (2): 52–65. PMID 3314346.
• Skrobacki A, Kikta T (1980). "[Jerrzej Sniadecki (1768-1838), Polish physician and chemist]". Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Hygiene und Ihre Grenzgebiete (in German) 26 (1): 67–69. PMID 6998151.