February 2nd
1566 Michal Sedziwój (Michael Sendivogius), was born. He was an alchemist; developed methods for isolating and purifying various acids, metals and other chemical compounds; discovered that air is not a single substance and contains a life-giving substance; identified this 'food of life' with the gas given off by heating nitre (saltpetre).
1802 Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonne Boussingault, who demonstrated that plants absorb nitrogen from soil in form of nitrates and not from air as previously believed; isolated and named sorbitol, was born.