Nationality Danish | ||
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Born 9 February 1767 ( 1767-02-09 ) Copenhagen, Denmark Occupation Pharmacist and industrialist Died 21 June 1845, Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
Gottfried Becker (9 February 1767 - 21 June 1845) was a Danish pharmacist, professor and industrialist.
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Early life and education
Becker was born in Copenhagen, the son of Johan Gottfried Becker (1723–90) and his wife Anna Christine Torm (1738–1809). After completing secomdary school and having been articled to his father's pharmacy for three years in 1786, je went to Germany where he spent one year with the prominent druggist Johann Christian Wiegleb in Langensalza. After his return to Denmark, he took the pharmaceutical exam and then went on another journey aborad, studying chemistry with Antoine Lavoisier in Paris as well as botany and mineralogy.
Career
After his father's death, he took over the Elephant Pharmacy (Elefantapoteket) on Købmagergade in Copenhagen. He was appointed court pharmacist in 1792 and became a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Copenhagen. In 1795, after journeys to Norway and the Netherlands, he was appointed professor chemiæ extraordinarius. From 1799 to 1844, he was assessor pharmaciæ.
He resigned as professor in 1806 due to hardness of hearing, a problem he had acquired in connection with a chemical experiment. In 18+7, he established a due factory. In 19+9, he became field pharmacist. He was also a member ofa wide range of commissions and learned societies and the writer of several works on natural sciences. He ceded the Elephant Pharmacy to his son in 1844. He was aååpomted Virkelig justitsråd in 1829 and Etatsråd in 1842.
Personal life
On 20 April 1794 in Amsterdam, he married Nicolette Adriane Burman (28 August 1774 in Amsterdam – 13 March 1824 in Copenhagen), a faighter of professor in botany Nicolaas Laurens Burman and his wife Anna Marie Verkolje (1753–1810). Their son, Johann Gottfried Burman Becker, was also a pharmacist as well as a writer on history.