Concept of catalysis
Concepto de catálisis
- Date
- 1835 · confidence high
- Place
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Credited to
- Jöns Jacob Berzelius (building on Döbereiner, Davy, Kirchhoff, Thénard)
- People
- 👤 Jöns Jacob Berzelius1779–1848
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Berzelius brings together under the name 'catalysis' observations of substances that speed up reactions without being consumed (platinum and hydrogen, the hydrolysis of starch by acid, the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide). Ostwald would define it kinetically in 1894.
What it led to
- Industrial catalysis (sulphuric acid, ammonia, petrochemicals)
- Enzymology
- Heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis
Built on
- Döbereiner's platinum experiments (1823)
- Kirchhoff's hydrolysis (1811)