Nicolae Teclu (); (11 October 1839, Kronstadt,

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

(today Brașov,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) – 13 July 1916,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

) was a

n chemist, who gave his name to the worldwide-used "

Teclu burner The Teclu burner is an ambient air laboratory gas burner, that was created by Romanian chemist Nicolae Teclu in 1882. The burner is most commonly used to heat substances in a laboratory, can be used for sterilisation and sometimes it is used for s ...

". He studied engineering and architecture, and then chemistry, continuing his career by becoming professor for general and analytical chemistry in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He also contributed substantially to the worldwide development of chemistry.

Biography

He studied chemistry at the Vienna Polytechnic Institute and later changed to architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. After a short time in Romania he went back to Vienna becoming a professor for general and analytical chemistry in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1892 he published his invention of the gas burner with a mechanism to control the respective amounts of methane gas and air. His burner produces a hotter flame than the Bunsen Burner, thus making it superior. The usage of Teclu burners is very common not only in Romania, but also in many other parts of the world. His domains of study included: * The resistance of paper and wood fibers * Mineral pigments * Oils utilized in paintings *

Combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...

of gases (

alkanes In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical trivial name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in which ...

) He was also the inventor of several other

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

items, kept now at the University of Bucharest. Among these items is a tool for the detection of

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

gas, and another one for the preparation of

ozone Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...

. He was elected to the Romanian Academy.

References

Links

Nicolae Teclu - Gallery of personalities - Virtual Museum of Science and Technology in Romania
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teclu, Nicolae 1839 births 1916 deaths People from Brașov Titular members of the Romanian Academy Chemists from Austria-Hungary Romanian Austro-Hungarians TU Wien alumni Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni