Henrik Teofilus Scheffer (December 28, 1710 – August 10, 1759) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

notable for his contribution to the discovery of

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

. He was the son of (secretary of the

Swedish Board of Mines The Swedish Board of Mines ( sv, Bergskollegium) was a government agency in Sweden that worked between 1637 and 1857 with the task of guiding and controlling the mining industry and metal processing in Sweden. Between 1637 and 1649 its name was Gen ...

) and Gustafviana Sofia Ehrenstierna and was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Scheffer was raised by his uncle after his parents died. Scheffer was the grandson of scholar

Johannes Schefferus Johannes Schefferus (February 2, 1621 – March 26, 1679) was one of the most important Swedish humanists of his time. He was also known as Angelus and is remembered for writing hymns.See the link below "German Classics" Schefferus was born in ...

and cousin of Counts Carl Fredrik and . Scheffer studied at Uppsala University from 1725 to 1731, studying mathematics under

Anders Celsius Anders Celsius (; 27 November 170125 April 1744) was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He was professor of astronomy at Uppsala University from 1730 to 1744, but traveled from 1732 to 1735 visiting notable observatories in Germa ...

. He then began work at the Swedish Board of Mines as an ' – an unpaid civil servant allowed to take part in the agency's negotiations – and studied under

Georg Brandt Georg Brandt (26 June 1694 – 29 April 1768) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist who discovered cobalt (c. 1735). He was the first person to discover a metal unknown in ancient times. He is also known for exposing fraudulent alchemists operatin ...

. While working there, chemist

Gustaf von Engeström Gustaf von Engeström (1 August 1738 – 12 August 1813) was a Swedish mineralogist, chemist, and an official on the Swedish Board of Mines. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Biography Gustaf von Engeström was born in ...

was one of his students. Scheffer became director of the Ädelfors gold mine in 1739 and began working as an assayer () in 1752. In 1747 he was elected a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

, and in 1756 he was made a Swedish nobleman. In addition to valuable essays in the journal ' of the Academy of Sciences, Scheffer is notable for his 1752 survey of platinum, which at that time was proven to be a previously unknown

noble metal A noble metal is ordinarily regarded as a metallic chemical element that is generally resistant to corrosion and is usually found in nature in its raw form. Gold, platinum, and the other platinum group metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, o ...

, and the method of separating gold from silver by means of sulfuric acid. His ''Chemical Lectures''Henrik Teofilus Scheffer, Torbern Bergman,"Chemical lectures of H. T. Scheffer". Translation of: ''Chemiske föreläsningar, rörande salter, jordarter, vatten, fetmor, metaller och färgning''. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992. (published by

Torbern Bergman Torbern Olaf (Olof) Bergman (''KVO'') (20 March 17358 July 1784) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist noted for his 1775 ''Dissertation on Elective Attractions'', containing the largest chemical affinity tables ever published. Bergman was the ...

1775, third edition 1796) was of considerable importance for the study of chemistry in Sweden. Scheffer married Ulrika Maria Clerck in 1737. He died in Stockholm in 1759.

Literature

{{Authority control 1710 births 1759 deaths Scientists from Stockholm 18th-century Swedish chemists 18th-century Swedish nobility Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences