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Robert Bunsen
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Robert Bunsen Robert Bunsen, 1896
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Robert Bunsen
Robert Bunsen Robert Bunsen, engraving by C. Cook, 1850s.

Robert Bunsen

German chemist
Also known as: Robert Wilhelm Bunsen
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Robert Bunsen (born March 30, 1811, Göttingen, Westphalia [Germany]—died August 16, 1899, Heidelberg) was a German chemist who, with Gustav Kirchhoff, about 1859 observed that each element emits a light of characteristic wavelength. Such studies opened the field of spectrum analysis, which became of great importance in the study of the Sun and stars and also led Bunsen almost immediately to his discovery of two alkali-group metals, cesium and rubidium. After taking a Ph.D. in...

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