Frans Maurits Jaeger: een chemicus als historicus

Abstract

Frans Maurits Jaeger: a chemist as a historian F.M. Jaeger (1877-1945) worked from 1908 till his death as a professor in non-organic chemistry at the Groningen university. In the period around 1918 he showed a great interest in the history of chemistry. This resulted in a number of publications on this subject, which show all the characteristics of Jaeger's approach to science. He was a positivist scientist, who stressed the importance of experimentation. He used the important developments in contemporary chemistry, especially the theory of atomic structure and the elements, to assess the merits of past chemists. Although he claimed to rate every historical period at its true value, he was in fact exalting the chemistry of his own time.