MEYER, VICTOR (1848-1897), German chemist, was born at Berlin on Sept. 8, 1848. He studied at Heidelberg under R. W. Bunsen, H. F. M. Kopp, G. R. Kirchoff and H. L. F. Helmhotz (qq.v.) ; he also worked under Baeyer (q.v.) in Berlin. In 187o he was appointed extraordinary professor at Stuttgart polytechnic, and in 1872 succeeded J Wislicenus (q.v.) at Zurich. In 1885 he obtained the chair of chemistry at Gottingen, and in 1889 he suc ceeded Bunsen at Heidelberg. He was awarded the Davy medal in 1891. Meyer proved to be not only a great investigator but also a stimulating teacher, with a wonderful command of language. He suffered from ill health and committed suicide on Aug. 8, 1897.
Meyer's first papers dealt with the composition of camphor, chloral hydrate and the structure of benzene (q.v.). In 1872 he discovered the aliphatic nitro-compounds (q.v.), and this led him on to the study of nitroso-compounds and nitrols. In 1882 he discovered the oximes (q.v.) and showed that they can exist
in stereo-isomeric forms ; he also investigated the chemistry of these compounds very thoroughly. In 1871 he devised a method for determining vapour densities (see CHEMISTRY: Physical), and this led him on to a series of pyro-chemical studies, in which the vapour densities of inorganic substances were determined at fairly high temperatures. The results of this work, with his brother, Carl Meyer, were collected in Pyrochemische Unter suchungen (1885). In the course of a lecture demonstration he made an observation which led him to the discovery of thiophene (q.v.) in 1883; he studied the substance and determined its struc ture; the results are published in Die Thiophengruppe (1888).
See C. Meyer, "Victor Meyer" in Ber. d. deutsch chem. Ges. (1908) ; B. Horowitz, "Victor Meyer His Life and Work," Jnl. Franklin Inst. (1916) ; T. E. Thorpe's Essays in Historical Chemistry (3rd ed., 1911).