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Jan Baptista van Helmont summary

Jan Baptista van Helmont , (born Jan. 12, 1580, Brussels, Belg.—died Dec. 30, 1644, Vilvoorde, Spanish Netherlands), Belgian chemist, physiologist, and physician. Though he tended to mysticism, he was a careful observer and exact experimenter. The first to recognize gases other than air, he coined the word gas and discovered that the “wild spirits” (carbon dioxide) produced by burning charcoal and by fermenting grape juice were the same. For applying chemical principles to digestion and nutrition, he has been called the “father of biochemistry.” His collected works were published in 1648.

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Jan Baptista van Helmont

(1579—1644)

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(1579–1644) Flemish chemist and physician

Van Helmont, who came from a noble Brussels family, was educated at the Catholic University of Louvain in medicine, mysticism, and chemistry, but declined a degree from them. Rejecting all offers of employment he devoted himself to private research at his home. In 1621 he was involved in a controversy with the Church over the belief that it was possible to heal a wound caused by a weapon by treating the weapon rather than the wound. Van Helmont did not reject this common belief but insisted that it was a natural phenomenon containing no supernatural elements. He was arrested, eventually allowed to remain under house arrest, and forbidden to publish without the prior consent of the Church. He wrote extensively and after his death his collected papers were published by his son as the Ortus medicinae (1648; Origin of Medicine).

Van Helmont rejected the works of the ancients, although he did believe in the philosopher's stone. He carried out careful observations and measurements, which led him to discover the elementary nature of water. He regarded water as the chief constituent of matter. He pointed out that fish were nourished by water and that substantial bodies could be reduced to water by dissolving them in acid. To demonstrate his theory he performed a famous experiment in which he grew a willow tree over a period of five years in a measured quantity of earth. The tree increased its weight by 164 pounds despite the fact that only water was added to it. The soil had decreased by only a few ounces.

Van Helmont also introduced the term ‘gas’ into the language, deriving it from the Greek for chaos. When a substance is burned it is reduced to its formative agent and its gas and van Helmont believed that when 62 pounds of wood is burned to an ash weighing 1 pound, 61 pounds have escaped as water or gas. Different substances give off different gases when consumed and van Helmont identified four gases, which he named gas carbonum, two kinds of gas sylvester, and gas pingue. These we would now call carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and methane.

From:   Helmont, Jan Baptista van   in  A Dictionary of Scientists »

Subjects: Science and technology

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Jan Baptist van Helmont – The Founder of Pneumatic Chemistry

Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580-1644)

On January 12 , 1580 , Flemish chemist , physiologist , and physician Jan Baptist van Helmont was born. Can Helmont worked during the years just after Paracelsus and is sometimes considered to be “the founder of pneumatic chemistry “. Van Helmont is remembered today largely for his ideas on spontaneous generation and his introduction of the word “ gas ” (from the Greek word chaos) into the vocabulary of scientists .

“I praise my bountiful God, who hath called me into the Art of the fire, out of the dregs of other professions. For truly Chymistry… prepares the understanding to pierce the secrets of nature, and causeth a further searching out in nature, than all other Sciences being put together: and it pierceth even unto the utmost of real truth.” – Jan Baptist van Helmont [13]

Jan Baptist van Helmont – Early Years

Jan Baptist van Helmont was born in Brussels , Spanish Netherlands (present-day Belgium), as a member of the nobler families. His father, Christiaen van Helmont, was a public prosecutor . His inheritance (his father died in 1580) and the income from his wife’s fiefs made him financially independent throughout his life.  Helmont  studied philosophy, theology, natural history and medicine in a Jesuit seminary in Leuven and received his doctorate in 1599. At the age of 17 he was already a teacher. In the early 17th century , Helmont traveled through Europe , especially England , France , Italy , and Switzerland . In 1605 he returned first to Amsterdam and practiced medicine during a plague epidemic. In 1606 he settled as a doctor and natural scientist on his estate Vilvoorde near Brussels. There he carried out chemical and physiological experiments in his private laboratory. Instead of accepting the Jesuits’ offer to enter into ecclesiastical service, he married Margarite van Ranst in 1609 and thus received the title Lord. He also rejected a call from Emperor Rudolf II . Van Helmont dealt with the works of Galenus, Hippocrates , Avicenna and Paracelsus .[ 9 , 10 ] He was a follower of Paracelsus and regarded him as his model, whereas he rejected galenic medicine and, on the basis of his own research, arrived at results that contradicted the traditional concept of humoral pathology.

The Pot Experiment

The sources on Jan Baptist van Helmont differ. Often,  the scientist is credited with the idea of the pot experiment to test if plants obtained their  mass from the soil . The subject of Helmont’s experiment was the transplantation of a willow shoot weighing five pounds. Since the time of ancient Greek natural philosophy , it was assumed that all matter consisted of four elements : earth, water, fire and air. With the willow shoot, van Helmont wanted to prove that only air and water were elementary matter. He took the shoot from nature, removed the earth from its roots and weighed it. He then planted it in a pot full of weighed earth. The tree was then regularly watered with water, otherwise nothing was added. Five years after planting the willow, he pulled it out of the soil of the pot and weighed both a second time. From the earth only 2 ounces had been lost in this time, the tree however was 169 pounds and 3 ounces heavy. From this Van Helmont drew the reasonable conclusion: “ 164 pounds of wood, bark and roots originated from water alone “. Only later did research by other scholars show that plants also need air (especially the carbon dioxide it contains), light and – in much smaller quantities – substances from the soil to grow. However, many historians assume that Helmont’s experiment was mostly inspired by the work of  Nicolas of Cusa and his book ‘ De Staticus Experimentis ‘ in which a similar thought experiment is described [ 5 ].

Pneumatic Chemistry and Iatrochemistry

Jan Baptist van Helmont became the founder of iatrochemistry with Christian-mythic traits, which he opposed to iatromechanics . He described all life processes as chemical processes, which he called “fermentation” and attributed to “gaseous ferments”. In 1644 he was the first to synthesise sulphuric copper oxide ammonia (Cuprum sulphuricum ammoniatum, Kupriammonium sulphate). Van Helmont was responsible for the discovery of coal gases in the early days of modern chemistry. He discovered a “wild spirit” which emanated from heated wood and coal, and in his book “ Origins of Medicine ” (1609) called it “gas” (derived from chaos, spirit, gauze, blowing, …).

House Arrest and Ban on Publication

Jan Baptist van Helmont closely followed the controversy between the Marburg professor Rudolf Goclenius the Younger and the Belgian Jesuit Jean Roberti. In 1617 the latter had rejected the healing method of magnetic wound healing with the “sympathetic powder” published by Goclenius in 1608. A manuscript by van Helmont with extensive support of the point of view of the Protestant professor was published against his will by Roberti. His ideas brought him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. In 1625 the Spanish Inquisition (responsible for the Spanish Netherlands) condemned 27 statements as heresy, presumptuous arrogance, proximity to Lutheran and Calvinist doctrine. The University of Leuven rejected his teachings because they were inspired by Paracelsus. From 1633 to 1636 he was under house arrest. The persecutions by the church did not end until 1642, when he received the imprimatur for a treatise on fever. Therefore he could not publish between 1624 and 1642, until shortly before his death. Full rehabilitation did not take place until 1646 after his death.

Hero and Fool

During his lifetime, Jan Baptiste van Helmont was known as both, “ hero and fool” because his “ combination of mysticism , magic , alchemy , and new science irritated even his contemporaries”. Robert Boyle was one of Helmont’s admirers, but even Boyle could not really understand how van  Helmont one the one hand made numerous important discoveries and on the other hand “could also produce such unscientific nonsense ” [ 6 ]. Historians note that Helmont’s works are difficult to understand because often, his scientific writing is mixed with nonscientific discourses on such things as religious metaphysics and cosmology . For instance, Helmont apparently believed in spontaneous generation , that the philosophers’ stone could be used to turn other  metals into gold and that applying salve to the weapon that caused a wound would promote healing of the wound . Unfortunately, Helmont later got arrested and convicted of heresy under the Spanish Inquisition for his publication on the matter.

References and Further Reading:

• [1]  Jan Baptist von Helmont at Famous Scientists
• [2]  Misconceptions about Helmont’s Willow Experiment in A Case Study of Academic Misconduct, Peer Review Failures and Journal Coverups of Published Errors by David R. Hershey
• [3]  Johann Baptista van Helmont at Chemistry Explained
• [4] Jan Baptist van Helmont at Wikidata
• [5]  Nikolaus of Cusa and the Learned Ignorance , SciHi Blog, August 11, 2013.
• [6]  Robert Boyle – The Sceptical Chemist , SciHi Blog, December 31, 2015.
• [7] Catholic Encyclopedia:   Jan Baptista van Helmont
• [8]  Ortus Medicinae   ( Origin of Medicine , 1648)
• [9]  Paracelsus – a Typical Renaissance Scientist? , SciHi Blog
• [10]  Avicenna – The Most Significant Polymath of the Islamic Golden Age , SciHi Blog
• [11] David Hershey, Misconceptions about Helmont’s Willow Experiment . Plant Science Bulletin, The Botanical Society of America:The Society for ALL Plant Biologists, Fall 2003 vol 49, 3, pp. 78-84.
• [12] Timeline of Flemish Scientists , via DBpedia and Wikidata
• [13] Jan Baptist van Helmont at LibQuotes
• [14]  Lecture 5 Energy and Matter , BIOLogics by Dr. C @youtube

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Jan Baptist von Helmont: Biography, Experiment & Theory

Kimberly has a Bachelor's degree from Lewis Clark State College in Secondary Education Science and has a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University. She has taught a variety of subjects in the last 7 years, from Biology, Chemistry, Physical Science, Life Science, Geology, Educational Assessment, and Educational Psychology to high school, college, and online.

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Growing with patience, early life and medicine, experimentations and theories, end of life, lesson summary.

Could you imagine waiting five years to receive an answer to your question? It is so easy for us with our modern technology to just pop on our cell phones and search the Internet for an answer we are so impatient for. However, for those who never had modern technology, patience was a part of finding the answer. This included Jan Baptist von Helmont and his 'Willow Tree Experiment'.

Long ago, a Greek philosopher named Aristotle suggested that the four building blocks of life were earth, fire, water, and air. Jan Baptist von Helmont questioned Aristotle's building blocks and believed that only water and air were the main building blocks. To answer his question, he took a five-pound tree and placed it in two hundred pounds of dirt. For five years he added nothing but water, and after that five-year period, the tree grew and weighed one hundred and sixty-nine pounds, while the weight of the soil stayed the same.

Jan Baptist von Helmont lived during a time when science was just beginning to take strides. In this lesson, we will look at the life of von Helmont well as his experiments and theories.

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Born in Brussels, Germany in 1597, Jan Baptist von Helmont belonged to a noble family, which helped set him up for success in later life. At an early age, he was sent to the University of Louvain where he learned philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and methods of logic. Although he was fond of learning, he was disappointed at the university and left to pursue medicine.

Von Helmont chose medicine to help end suffering. He believed that if used properly, medicine could help those with a severe disease and alleviate their pain. He ran into a few problems that questioned his life in medicine, however. Much of what he studied never solved human suffering, which was his main goal. He also never received money from his work, as he believed it was wrong to earn money from the suffering of others.

In 1609, he married a well-to-do woman named Margarita Van Ranst. The two lived comfortably with their children near Brussels. Although von Helmont enjoyed helping others through medicine, he found himself wanting more in life. After his marriage, he decided to do research in chemistry.

Jan Baptist von Helmont conducted many experiments during his lifetime. Some of them were simple while others were quite bizarre, such as his belief that mice spontaneously arose from wheat bags. However, much of what he researched lead to many discoveries that changed chemistry. Here were some of his notable experiments and theories:

- Gas Experiments: Von Helmont is known as the founder of pneumatic chemistry , or the study of gases. He received this honor after proposing the belief that air was composed of different types of gases , a name he gave for the Greek word ''chaos''. This idea came to him when he observed gases from fermented food, burning charcoal, and caves. Seeing that these gases were similar in the fact that they were harmful for organisms, he suggested that there must be different types of gases in the air. From this experiment, he proved that air was composed of different types of gases, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane.

- Enzyme Theory: It was impressive to note that Von Helmont was close to discovering the enzyme , a chemical substance inside organisms that helps with chemical reactions. During his research, he performed digestive experiments and believed heat within the body helps digest food. This was a conflicting statement because how would cold-blooded animals digest food? Von Helmont researched more and explained that organisms contained a chemical property that allowed digestion to take place, namely bodily enzymes. Although he was not able to draw that conclusion, he was close proving its existence.

- DNA Theory: Another theory that von Helmont was close to proving was that every organism contained a genetic code called DNA . This genetic code determined the looks and disposition of the organism. Von Helmont never called it DNA; rather, ''archeus'' which is the genetic code of each person.

- Alchemy Experiments: One of von Helmont's strangest pursuits was alchemy or the study of making gold using other elements. Von Helmont believed that he was in possession of the philosopher's stone , a rock that would enable him to take small amounts of it to make mercury change into gold. This experiment has been disregarded.

Towards the end of his life, much of Jan Baptist von Helmont's work was criticized for opposing the beliefs of the religious community. He was silent from 1624 until his death in 1644 because he was sent to court and prison for discipline and was even placed under house arrest. His work was kept to himself until his son published the work years later.

It was said that during this time of silence, Helmont discovered important aspects of science that are still used today, such as the standards for a melting and boiling point of water. He found a way to use acid solutions to improve rusted metal. He also was the first to explain that diseases were not part of the body but outside of it. Although his experiments were strange, he will be forever known as an intelligent chemist that pursued knowledge until the end.

Jan Baptist von Helmont lived from 1597 to 1644. Born to a noble family, Helmont pursued an education at the University of Louvain but left after he was disappointed with the education. He took up medicine and tried to find a way to prevent suffering. Although he was unsuccessful, he could explain how diseases were outside the body, transforming the study of medicine. After he married into a noble family, he performed research the rest of his life and conducted many experiments, such as the Willow Tree, gases, enzymes, and alchemy . Although he was criticized for many of his theories and experiments, he was known as the founder of pneumatic chemistry for his study of different types of gases.

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4.1.4: Discovery of Photosynthesis

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• Melissa Ha, Maria Morrow, & Kammy Algiers
• Yuba College, College of the Redwoods, & Ventura College via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

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Learning Objective

Summarize the experimental results that revealed details about the process of photosynthesis.

The history of the studies done on photosynthesis dates back into the 17th century with Jan Baptist van Helmont. He rejected the ancient idea that plants take most of their biomass from the soil. For the proof, he performed an experiment using a willow tree. He started with a willow tree with a mass of 2.27 kg. Over 5 years, it grew to 67.7 kg. However, the mass of the soil only decreased by 57 grams. Van Helmont came to the conclusion that plants must obtain most of their mass from water. He did not know about gases.

Joseph Priestley ran a series of experiments in 1772 (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). He tested a mouse, a candle, and a sprig of mint under hermetically sealed (no air can go in or out) jar. He first observed that a mouse and a candle behave very similarly when covered, in that they both “spend” the air. However, when a plant is placed with either the candle or mouse, the plant “revives” the air for both.

Further ideas were brought about in the late 1700’s. Jan Ingenhousz and Jean Senebier found that the air is only reviving in the day time and that CO\(_2\) is assembled by plants. Antoin-Laurent Lavoiser found that “revived air” is a separate gas, oxygen.

But what is the oxygen “maker”? There are many pigments in plants, and all accept and reflect some parts of rainbow. To identify the culprit, Thomas Engelmann ran an experiment (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)) using a crystal prism that shine different wavelengths (colors) of visible light on the algae Spirogyra algae. He then measured oxygen production with aerotactic bacteria, which move towards areas of high oxygen concentration. A high density of bacteria cells accumulated in the blue and red parts of the spectrum, indicating this was where the most oxygen was produced and the most photosynthesis was conducted. This was a huge find. It tells that the key photosynthetic pigment should accept blue and red rays, and thus reflect green rays. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll a best fits this description.

Another important fact was discovered by Frederick Blackman in 1905. He found that if light intensity is low, the increase of temperature actually has very little effect on the rate of photosynthesis. However, the reverse is not exactly true, and light is able to intensify photosynthesis even when it is cold.

This could not happen if light and temperature are absolutely independent factors. If temperature and light are components of the chain, light was first (“ignition”) and temperature was second. This ultimately shows that photosynthesis has two stages (now called the light-dependent and light-independent stages). The light-dependent stage relates the to intensity of the light. The light-independent stage relates more with the temperature as it involves many enzymes.

Attribution

Curated and authored by Melissa Ha using 8.1 Overview of Photosynthesis from Biology 2e by OpenStax (licensed CC-BY ). Access for free at openstax.org .

Video clip – Van Helmont’s experiments on plant growth

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This video clip from BBC Four Botany: A Blooming History demonstrates Van Helmont’s classic experiment to investigate how plants grow.

In 1634 Jean Baptist Van Helmont was arrested for the crime of studying plants and other phenomena. He considered the question “how do plants grow?”. The contempory theory was that plants grew by eating soil. He devised an investigation to test the idea. He weighed a willow tree and weighed dry soil. He planted the tree, watered it and then left it for 5 years. He then re-weighed the tree, which had increased in mass by over 12 stones. He dried the soil and weighed it, showing that the soil was almost the same mass. He concluded that the tree grew by drinking water. The importance of the use of scientific evidence to support ideas is discussed, even though the conclusion he made was wrong.

An good introduction to the puzzle of how plants grow. If asked, many younger pupils will believe that plants grow by taking material from the soil. The idea can be tested using rapid cycling brassicas or other fast growing species. It is also an opportunity to discuss the importance of measuring dry mass when doing experiments with living material. This can be used to develop the idea of controlling variables in experiments. The clip also raises issues about the use of scientific evidence to support conclusions. It can be used to emphasise that firm conclusions can only be drawn when clear evidence is found. Students can also discuss the gaps in Van Helmont’s knowledge, which they can fill now with current evidence.

• Photosynthesis

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Van Helmont and Helmontianism

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• First Online: 21 December 2019
• Cite this living reference work entry

• Georgiana D. Hedesan 3  

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Introduction

In his posthumous Ortus medicinae ( The Birth of Medicine , 1648), Flemish philosopher, physician, and alchemist Jan Baptist van Helmont (1579–1644) rejected Scholasticism in favor of a new “Christian philosophy” he was hoping to create. Unfortunately, his project was never fulfilled, for Van Helmont died abruptly while working on his grand synthesis. Feeling his end near, he summoned his son Franciscus Mercurius (1614/1618–1699) and handed him the unordered papers, asking him to do what he would with them. Franciscus published them 4 years later, in Amsterdam, thus helping to spread his father’s fame far and wide.

Today Van Helmont’s “new philosophy” is all but forgotten, shadowed by that of his younger contemporary René Descartes (1596–1650) and other philosophers of the period. Yet in the seventeenth and at least part of the eighteenth century, many believed Van Helmont’s ideas heralded a new era of knowledge. In 1707, the physician Michael Bernhard Valentini wrote an...

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Georgiana D. Hedesan

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Hedesan, G.D. (2019). Van Helmont and Helmontianism. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_506-1

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