Dissolved Oxygen
Natural water contains molecular oxygen (O2), necessary for life in ponds, rivers, and so on. A common nineteenth-century test for determining dissolved oxygen, as described by Alfred Wanklyn, involved boiling the water sample and collecting, over mercury, the gases released, for subsequent analysis.
In 1888, while still a doctoral student, Lajos Winkler discovered a much safer, and more precise, method of dissolved-oxygen analysis, which is still widely used today. The Winkler method uses the dissolved oxygen to convert manganese(II) hydroxide into manganese(III) hydroxide, and then analyzing for the latter by titration.
Read more about this topic: Lajos Winkler
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