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Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (German:; 30 March 1811 [a] – 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. [11] The Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy is named after Bunsen and Kirchhoff.
This laid way for spectrochemical analysis in laboratory and astrophysical science. Bunsen and Kirchhoff applied the optical techniques of Fraunhofer, Bunsen's improved flame source and a highly systematic experimental procedure to a detailed examination of the spectra of chemical compounds. They established the linkage between chemical ...
In 1860, the unexpected appearance of sky-blue and dark red was observed in spectral emissions by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, leading to the discovery of two alkali metals, caesium and rubidium (dark red). [4] [1] Today, this low-cost method is used in secondary education to teach students to detect metals in samples qualitatively. [2]
Bunsen was joined in his research by Gustav Kirchhoff. Kirchhoff used the concept of the dispersion of white light by a prism in the invention of the spectroscope , a device with a prism at its centre which split the light from Bunsen's flames into distinct bands of its constituent colours – the element's spectral lines .
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen discovered the application of spectroscopes to chemical analysis and used this approach to discover caesium and rubidium. [6] [7] Kirchhoff and Bunsen's analysis also enabled a chemical explanation of stellar spectra, including Fraunhofer lines. [8]
1860–61: Discovery of caesium and rubidium by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff [139] 1860: Erlenmeyer flask by Emil Erlenmeyer [ 140 ] 1863–64: Discovery of indium by Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymous Theodor Richter [ 141 ] [ 142 ] [ 143 ]
Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff were the first to establish atomic emission spectroscopy as a tool in chemistry. [1] When an element is burned in a flame, its atoms move from the ground electronic state to the excited electronic state. As atoms in the excited state move back down into the ground state, they emit light.
The first instrumental analysis was flame emissive spectrometry developed by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff who discovered rubidium (Rb) and caesium (Cs) in 1860. [4] Most of the major developments in analytical chemistry took place after 1900. During this period, instrumental analysis became progressively dominant in the field.