Memorial stone Jan Pieter Minckelers
Johannes Petrus Minckelers, a Leuven professor, physicist and chemist, discovered in 1783 that "combustible air" (light gas) could be extracted from coal, which later made possible the invention and application of gas light (the commercially attractive gas-light illumination).
Jan Pieter Minckelers was born in Maastricht in 1748. His grandfather was a doctor and his father owned a pharmacy on Herenstraat (which would later be renamed Minckelersstraat). Like so many sons of the well-to-do middle class, he was schooled at the Jesuits' Latin school, close to his parental home. In 1764 he continued his studies in Leuven, Belgium, where he was appointed professor of physics in 1771 and discovered light gas in 1783. He died in Brussels in 1824.
In memory of our famous fellow townsman, a statue of him was erected on the Markt (Boschstraat) in 1904. Jan Pieter Minckelers is depicted in priestly attire but that must be the gown of a Leuven professor. On the pedestal there are two plaques depicting his great discovery.
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