Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs (2 December 1836 – 14 February 1923) was a chemist

Chemist

A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

 who published his findings on periodic laws within the chemical elements well before Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev , was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements...

 or Lothar Meyer.

Life

Hinrichs was born in Lunden

Lunden

Lunden is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider, approx. 16 km north of Heide.Lunden is part of the Amt Kirchspielslandgemeinde Eider....

, Holstein

Holstein

Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

, which belonged at that time to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. He attended the polytechnic school and the University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

. During his schooling he published several articles and books, including descriptions of the magnetic field

Magnetic field

A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...

 of earth and its interaction with the aether

Aether (classical element)

According to ancient and medieval science aether , also spelled æther or ether, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere.-Mythological origins:...

. He graduated in 1860, between the First Schleswig War and the Second Schleswig War. He emigrated later that year to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, settling initially in Davenport, Iowa where he taught school, then in Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...

. In 1863 he was made professor of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Modern Languages at the University of Iowa. Hinrichs founded the first state weather and crop service in the United States. He was the head of the Iowa Weather Service until 1886. He was first to identify the straight-line storm phenomenon known as the Derecho

Derecho

A derecho is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo...

 (external history) He stayed at that University until he had to leave his office in 1886 when he was fired by the state Board of Regents because of disputes with the University president and other faculty. He became professor at the St. Louis University in 1889 and stayed there until his retirement in 1907.

Periodic law

Hinrichs is one of the discoverers of the periodic laws which are the basis for the periodic table of elements. Although his contribution is not as important as that of Mendeleev or Lothar Meyer, he stated his ideas as early as 1855 and published his book Programme der Atomechanik in 1867. His periodic table had the form of a spiral and the elements where placed into the structure according to their atomic mass. Hinrichs also postulated theory on the cause of the periodicity within the chemical elements. His theory was based on the composition of the elements out of smaller Panatome. The Trigonoides are the nonmetals made from regular triangles, while the metallic Tetragonoides were made from squares. Algebraic formulas of how to mix squares and triangles gave the periodic laws. His "controversial ideas and colorful personality" proved to be an obstacle to the spread of his ideas.