Johann Wilhelm Ritter

Johann Wilhelm Ritter

Ritter in the uniform of the Bavarian Academy of

Sciences, about 1804
Born

December 16, 1776

Samitz, Silesia, Holy Roman Empire

Died

January 23, 1810 (aged 33)

Munich, Bavaria

Nationality

German

Fields

Chemistry

Known for

Electrochemistry
Ultraviolet light

Johann Wilhelm Ritter (16 December 1776 23 January 1810) was a German chemist,
physicist and philosopher. He was born in Samitz (Zamienice) near Haynau (Chojnw) in Silesia
(then part of Prussia, since 1945 in Poland), and died in Munich.

Contents

1 Life and work

2 See also

3 References

4 Sources

5 External links

Life and work

Johann Wilhelm Ritter's first involvement with science began when he was 14 years old. He
became an apprentice to an apothecary in Liegnitz (Legnica), and acquired a deep interest in
chemistry. He began medicine studies at the University of Jena in 1796. A self-taught scientist,
he made many experimental researches on chemistry, electricity and other fields.
Ritter belonged to the German Romantic movement.[1] He was personally acquainted with
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Johann Gottfried Herder and Clemens
Brentano. He was strongly influenced by Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, who was the main
philosopher of the Naturphilosophie movement. In 1801, Hans Christian rsted visited Jena and
became his friend. Several of Ritter's researches were latter reported by rsted, who was also
strongly influenced by the philosophical outlook of Naturphilosophie.[2]
Ritter's first scientific researches concerned some galvanic phenomena. He interpreted the
physiological effects observed by Luigi Galvani and other researchers as due to the electricity
generated by chemical reactions. His interpretation is closer to the one accepted nowadays than
those proposed by Galvani (animal electricity) and Alessandro Volta (electricity generated by
metallic contact), but it was not accepted at the time.

Illustration of an electrolysis apparatus by Ritter, 1800

In 1800, shortly after the invention of the voltaic pile, William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle
discovered that water could be decomposed by electricity. Shortly afterward, Ritter also
discovered the same effect, independently. Besides that, he collected and measured the amounts
of hydrogen and oxygen produced in the reaction. He also discovered the process of
electroplating. In 1802 he built the first electrochemical cell, with 50 copper discs separated by
cardboard disks moistened by a salt solution.[3][4]
Ritter made several self-experiments applying the poles of a voltaic pile to his own hands, eyes,
ears, nose and tongue.[5] He also described the difference between the physiological effects of the
two poles of the pile, although some of the effects he reported were not confirmed afterwards.

Many of Ritter's researches were guided by a search for polarities in the several "forces" of
nature, and for the relation between those "forces" two of the assumptions of Naturphilosophie.
In 1801, after hearing about the discovery of "heat rays" (infrared radiation) by William Herschel
(in 1800), Ritter looked for an opposite (cooling) radiation at the other end of the visible
spectrum. He did not find exactly what he expected to find, but after a series of attempts he
noticed that silver chloride was transformed faster from white to black when it was placed at the
dark region of the Sun's spectrum, close to its violet end. The "chemical rays" found by him were
afterwards called ultraviolet radiation.[6][7][8]
Some of Ritter's researches were acknowledged as important scientific contributions, but he also
claimed the discovery of many phenomena that were not confirmed by other researchers. For
instance: he reported that the Earth had electric poles that could be detected by the motion of a
bimetallic needle; and he claimed that he could produce the electrolysis of water using a series of
magnets, instead of Volta's piles.[2]
Ritter had no regular income and never became a university professor, although in 1804 he was
elected a member of the Bavarian Academy of Science (in Munich). He married in 1804 and had
four children, but he was unable to provide the needs of his family. Plagued by financial
difficulties and suffering from weak health (perhaps aggravated by his electrical selfexperimentation), he died young in 1810, as a poor man.