Jan Baptist van Helmont - Brussels, Belgium
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member vraatja
N 50° 51.047 E 004° 20.661
31U E 594633 N 5634092
Marble statue of Jan Baptist van Helmont (1579-1644), a Flemish chemist, physiologist, doctor,philosopher and one of the promoters of modern science located at place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains (Speelplein Nieuwe Graanmarkt) in Brussels.
Waymark Code: WMQVKA
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Date Posted: 04/01/2016
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Dorcadion Team
Views: 1

At the southwestern part of a small Brussels' square place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains (Speelplein Nieuwe Graanmarkt) a marble statue of a Flemish chemist, physiologist, doctor,philosopher and one of the promoters of modern science Jan Baptist van Helmont (1579-1644) can be found. It was inaugurated here on 15 May 1889. The statue is the work of Gerard Vander Linden, whlile the plinth was made by an architecte Louis Delacenserie. On the plinth at the front there is the name JEAN-BAPTISTE VAN HELMONT and on the right-hand side of the plinth there is an inscription:

NÉ A BRUXELLES EN 1579
MORT A BRUXELLES EN 1644.
CHIMISTE PHYSIOLOGISTE
MEDECIN ET PHILOSOPHE
IL FUT UN DES PROMOTEURS DE
LA SCIENCE MODERNE.

(i.e. Born Brussels in 1579
Died Brussels in 1644
Chemist, physiologist, doctor and philosopher. He was one of the promoters of modern science.

Slightly over-live size statue of Jan Baptist van Helmont depicts him sitting on the chair deep in thought, with one leg put on two big books and with a scroll laid on his other leg. We wears a typical 17th century renneisance robe with the ruff around his neck and a long cloak.

Biography

Jan Baptist van Helmont was a Flemish chemist, physiologist, and physician. He worked during the years just after Paracelsus and iatrochemistry, and is sometimes considered to be "the founder of pneumatic chemistry". Van Helmont is remembered today largely for his ideas on spontaneous generation, his 5-year tree experiment, and his introduction of the word "gas" (from the Greek word chaos) into the vocabulary of scientists.

He was a contemporary of the English philosopher Francis Bacon and the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. As with Galileo and his work, van Helmont's work in science brought him into conflict with religious authorities. He also spent about sixteen years under house arrest while an Inquisition court prosecuted its legal case against him. His use of chemistry to understand medicine made him a leading iatrochemist (physician-chemist, iatro being Greek for "physician") of his time.

Van Helmont was the first to use the term "gas" to describe an airlike substance that was distinct from ordinary atmospheric air. His approach to chemistry included both mysticism and the use of the new experimental philosophy (science). He believed in astrology and the philosopher's stone . His study of the written works of Paracelsus led to his criticism of established medical practice and his adoption of experimental testing. He tested Paracelsus's notion that all substance was made of "earth" by conducting his "willow tree experiment." In the experiment he weighed a pot that contained dry soil and a willow sapling cleansed of soil. After planting the sapling in the soil, he added no soil, and watered the sapling with pure rainwater

Flemish physician and chemist Johann van Helmont, the first person to distinguish gas from atmospheric air.
Flemish physician and chemist Johann van Helmont, the first person to distinguish gas from atmospheric air.

or distilled water (and not with mineral water or well water, which might contain dissolved earth). At the end of five years he removed the tree from the soil, weighed it, and weighed the dried pot of soil. The soil had lost nearly none of its weight, whereas the tree had gained a great deal of weight. Van Helmont concluded that a tree was not composed mostly of "earth," as avowed by Paracelsus, but was composed mostly of "water," somehow transformed into tree substance.

Van Helmont offered another experiment as a proof of the existence of vacuums. He positioned a lighted candle upright in a wide tray of water. He used a glass dome to enclose the candle, with the edge of the glass immersed in the water. The candle soon went out, and the level of the water enclosed by the glass rose. Van Helmont claimed there was something in the air that was annihilated by the fire. The water rose due to suction that had been created by a vacuum that resulted from the annihilation of a part of the air. This description is essentially correct. The experiment would continue to be investigated by chemists for another 150 years, ultimately becoming a model experiment in the chemical revolution.

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Detailed biography can be found e.g. at (visit link)
URL of the statue: [Web Link]

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