Adriaan Paets van Troostwijk (4 March 1752 – 3 April 1837) was a Dutch businessman amateur chemist. He conducted experiments and theorized on the nature of substances, conduct some of the earliest experiments on the electrolysis of water in collaboration with physician

Johan Rudolph Deiman Jan Rudolph Deiman or Johann Rudolf Deimann (29 August 1743 – 15 January 1808) was a German-Dutch physician and chemist who was among the first to examine electrolysis of water, and examine the application of electricity for medical uses along wi ...

(1743–1808). Oval-room

Troostwijk was born in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

to cloth-merchant Wouter van Troostwijk and Johanna Dolphina Paets. He married Marie Cornelia Loten in 1770 and joined the business of his father-in-law in Amsterdam until 1816 and lived in Niewersluis subsequently. Here he became a member of the ''Felix Meritis'', an Amsterdam organization of polymaths founded in 1777. Along with his physician friend Jan Deiman, he conducted experiments and wrote 35 papers between 1778 and 1818. The director of the Haarlem

Teylers museum Teylers Museum () is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval R ...

Martinus van Marum Martin(us) van Marum (20 March 1750, Delft – 26 December 1837, Haarlem) was a Dutch physician, inventor, scientist and teacher, who studied medicine and philosophy in Groningen. Van Marum introduced modern chemistry in the Netherlands after ...

also collaborated with Paets van Troostwijk. Using an electrostatic generator, he was able to split water with gold as an electrode (acting as a catalyst as examined in studies in the 21st century) and was able to identify the components oxygen and hydrogen. In 1778 he conducted experiments on plants and their modification of the air. Van Marum lived for some time in Paris in 1785 and became a follower of

Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

phlogiston theory The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burni ...

until 1788. In 1792 he published on experiments with sulphide componds. Along with

Cornelis Rudolphus Theodorus Krayenhoff Corneli(u)s Rudolphus Theodorus, Baron Krayenhoff ( Nijmegen, 2 June 1758 – Nijmegen, 24 November 1840) was a physicist, artist, general, hydraulic engineer, cartographer and – against his will and for only a short time – Dutch Minister of ...

he examined cures and medical applications of electricity. Along with Deiman the founded a society in 1791 called the De Bataafsche Societeit (The Batavian Society) which later was called the Gezelschap der Hollandsche Scheikundigen (Society of Dutch Chemists). In 1815 he purchased the Sterreschans estate.

References

Authority control

De l'Application de l'électricité à la physique et à la médecine
(1788) The application of electricity to medicine" written with Baron Krayenhoff
Verhandeling over het nut van den groei der boomen en planten, tot zuivering der lucht
(1780) On the influence of plants on air quality" written with J.R. Deiman {{DEFAULTSORT:Troostwijk, Adriaan Paets van 1752 births 1837 deaths Dutch chemists