Johan August Strindberg – Chemist

Abstract

An eminent Swedish author and playwright abandoned literary activities and began to pursue scientific interests, especially chemistry, during the period of his personal crisis, which he called inferno. He created a special approach, called by him unitary chemistry (chimie unitaire), according to which all substances are composed of hydrogen units. On the basis of the unitary chemistry, he described atoms and molecules as combinations of arbitrary other substances while maintaining the same atomic or molecular weights. His views on composition and preparation of sulfur and iodine, and especially his famous attempt to produce gold, are described as examples.