ROBERT
BUNSEN
Karl Edrian Vince M. Lim
discovered the antidote to arsenic
poisoning. Years later, it saved his
life. He invented the zinc-carbon
battery; invented flash photography;
showed how geysers function; and
with Gustav Kirchhoff invented one
of the most fruitful scientific
methods in history: spectroscopy,
which Bunsen and Kirchhoff used to
discover the elements cesium and
rubidium. His name is best
remembered for his invention of the
clean-burning Bunsen burners used
in laboratories worldwide.
Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen
March 20, 1811 – August 16, 1899
Father: Christian Bunsen
- A professor of modern languages and head librarian
at the University of Göttingen.

Robert’s mother came from a military family.
attended elementary school and high school in
Göttingen. When he reached the age of 15 he moved to
the grammar school in Holzminden.
1828, aged 17, he started work for his degree at the
University of Göttingen. He took courses in chemistry,
physics, and mathematics, with some geology and
botany. He won an award for his work on a humidity
meter. When he wrote this work up in 1830, he was
awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry
Bunsen stayed at Göttingen until he won a
government scholarship to travel around
Europe studying chemistry. He spend
most of 1832 and 1833 learning chemical
techniques in laboratories in Germany,
Austria, Switzerland, and France. In
France he spent time in Paris working with
the famous chemist Joseph Gay-Lussac.
INVENTIONS,
discoveries &
contributions
Arsenic
Zinc-Carbon Battery
Gas Analysis
Geysers Function
Bunsen Burner
Spectrometer
Flash Photography
+ other elements
AWARDS
Bunsen worked in pre-Nobel prize days.
In 1860 he was awarded the equivalent
of the Nobel Prize, in the form of the
British Royal Society’s Copley Medal;
he also won the Royal Society’s Davy
Medal in 1877. He was elected foreign
member of the Royal Society, and in
1883 became one of eight foreign
members of the French Academy of
Sciences.