Henry Hennell FRS (''c.'' 1797 – 4 June 1842) was an English chemist. Hennelll was one of the founders of the

Chemical Society of London The Chemical Society was a scientific society formed in 1841 (then named the Chemical Society of London) by 77 scientists as a result of increased interest in scientific matters. Chemist Robert Warington was the driving force behind its creation. ...

and was a member of the first elected Council of the Chemical Society. He was elected F.R.S. in 1829. He worked as Chemical Operator at

Apothecaries' Hall, London Apothecaries Hall is a scheduled monument at Black Friars Lane, London. It is the headquarters of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, one of the livery companies of the City of London. It is one of the largest livery companies ...

. In 1825

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...

discovered that

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

could absorb large volumes of

coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

. He gave the resulting solution to Hennell, who found in 1826 that it contained "sulphovinic acid" ( ethyl hydrogen sulfate). Hennell's finding was a major breakthrough in the synthesis of

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

and led to major developments in organic chemistry. Hennell's successor as Chemical Operator at Apothecaries' Hall was Robert Warington.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hennell, Henry 1790s births 1842 deaths 19th-century English chemists Fellows of the Royal Society