Discoverer of the laws of electrolysis and photochemistry, the first Lithuanian physicochemist, geologist.
His father was the composer, pianist Dytrich Ewald von Grothus.
He introduced the important terms positive pole and negative pole and proved that molecules are dipoles and can polarize.
Freiherr Christian Johann Dietrich Theodor von Grotthuß in German. The first word indicates that T. Grotthuß was a Freiherr.
He was born into a family of noblemen from the Gedutian landed gentry travelling in Germany. The future scientist became a student at the University of Leipzig at the age of 3 days, but only enrolled in 1803. He received an excellent education at home, at the Gedučiai manor, where he was taught by hired teachers of languages, philosophy and philology. In the autumn of 1803, he began attending the Polytechnic School in Paris. There he attended lectures by the famous professors Claude Louis Bertolier, Antoine-François Fourcroy and other celebrities. He also attended lectures at other scientific institutions and, after learning about galvanic phenomena, became involved in their study.
In 1804, he began his independent studies in Naples, meeting Alexander von Humboldt and Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac, who were preparing to study volcanic phenomena, and deepening his mineralogical skills. In 1805, he took part in an expedition to Vesuvius, where he became interested in bioluminescence, carrying out sophisticated studies on the electrolysis of water, and writing a theory to support this process. After arriving in Rome, he published a scientific study. The world's first theory of electrolysis was printed in French in a small pamphlet, later reprinted in the Annalen de chemie and, a few months later, translated into English and German in the scientific press. In 1807, he was elected a member of the Paris Galvanic Society. In 1808 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts in Turin, but soon returned to Geducci.
1809-1812 he was the first to study chain reactions. In 1812 he went to St. Petersburg for six months and met A. N. Sherer, a chemist and publisher of a journal. In 1814 he was elected professor at the University of Dorpat, but for various reasons did not take up the post. In 1814 he was awarded the title of Corresponding Member of the Munich Academy of Sciences.
In 1815 he formulated the law of phosphorescence, which states that the emission of light depends on temperature. In 1816-1818, he studied the mineral springs of the Smardone of Likėnai, determined the composition of their water, and, in the study of rhodanides, discovered the reactions of analytical chemistry, which have now become classical, and developed a number of analytical techniques. He correctly concluded that the formation of hydrogen sulphide was due to the interaction between calcium sulphate and organic matter.
In 1818 he formulated the two laws of photochemistry, discovered the phenomenon of electrolysis and developed the first photometer, which was also suitable for use as a chemical watch. In 1817 he became a member of the Curonian Literature and Art Society in Mindaugava. In 1820, at the same time as Thomas Johann Seebeck, but independently of him, he discovered that the phenomena of electric currents in metals and solutions are identical. In 1817-1822 he was a member of the Kurländische Gesellschaft für Literatur und Kunst (Kurländische Gesellschaft für Literatur und Kunst), the oldest scientific society in the territory of what is now Latvia.
Grotus lived and worked at the Gedučiai manor, near Žeimelis. He died tragically there (committed suicide). He was buried in the burial cellar of the manor. Later, his remains were moved elsewhere and his grave remains unknown.
