Robert Bunsen at 200!!

Today is the 200th birthday of the German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen.

Bunsen, along with his laboratory assistant Peter Desaga, developed the Bunsen burner, a commonly used laboratory equipment used for heating.

Robert Bunsen was born on March 31, 1811 in Gottingen, Germany. In 1830 he received a Phd in chemistry at the University of Göttingen. After teaching at a number of universities in Germany, he went on to be professor at Heidelberg in 1852, a post he held till his death on August 16, 1899. Bunsen never married.

Among the many inventions credited to his name are the carbon-zinc electric cell, the filter pump, the ice calorimetre and the vapour calorimeter.