Edith Humphrey
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Edith Ellen Humphrey (11 September 1875 – 25 February 1978) was a British inorganic chemist who carried out pioneering work in co-ordination chemistry at the
University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
under
Alfred Werner Alfred Werner (12 December 1866 – 15 November 1919) was a Swiss chemist who was a student at ETH Zurich and a professor at the University of Zurich. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1913 for proposing the octahedral configuration ...
. She is thought to be the first British woman to obtain a
doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in chemistry and the first chemist to synthesize a
chiral Chirality () is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...
inorganic complex. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the
Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...
(RSC), 8 April 1991, a sample of the original crystals synthesised by Humphrey for her PhD were sent to them by the Swiss Committee of Chemistry, together with a modern CD spectrum of a solution of one crystal. This box of crystals remains on display in the exhibition room of the RSC.


Early life and education

Edith Humphrey was born on 11 September 1875 at 41 Lismore Road,
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...
, London. She was the youngest of the seven surviving children of Louisa (née Frost, 1831–1911) and John Charles Humphrey (1833–1903). Her mother had been a dressmaker before marriage, and her father was a clerk at the London
Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...
and later
London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
. John Humphrey had started life in poor circumstances, his father having been a bootmaker, and he was a great supporter of education for his daughters as well as his sons. Edith grew up in a middle-class household in
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...
, London. Her two elder sisters became teachers, and her brothers, including Herbert Alfred Humphrey (1868–1951), inventor of the
Humphrey pump The Humphrey pump is a large internal combustion gas-fueled liquid piston pump. The pump was invented by H. A. Humphrey and first presented in paper to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on 19 November 1909. A pump capable of pumping 250,000 ...
, and William Humphrey (1863–1898), head of the
Fourah Bay College Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-le ...
in
Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
,
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, were educated to degree level. Humphrey attended
Camden School for Girls The Camden School for Girls (CSG) is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It has about one thousand students of ages eleven to eighteen, and specialis ...
and then, from 1891,
North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam ...
, one of the first girls' schools in the UK to include science in the curriculum. Both schools were set up by
Frances Buss Frances Mary Buss (16 August 1827 – 24 December 1894) was a British headmistress and a pioneer of girls' education. Life The daughter of Robert William Buss, a painter and etcher, and his wife, Frances Fleetwood, Buss was one of six of the ...
. From 1893 to 1897 Humphrey studied chemistry (and physics) at
Bedford College, London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advancement of women in highe ...
, with a scholarship of £60 per annum. On completion of her degree, she applied to do a PhD at the University of Zurich.


Postgraduate research

On 17 October 1898, Humphrey matriculated for chemistry at the
University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
. She joined a growing band of
Alfred Werner Alfred Werner (12 December 1866 – 15 November 1919) was a Swiss chemist who was a student at ETH Zurich and a professor at the University of Zurich. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1913 for proposing the octahedral configuration ...
's students, working in the inadequate cellars known as the "Katakomben" (catacombs). Humphrey was awarded a grant of £60 a year for three years by the Technical Education Board of the London County Council, but studying in Switzerland was expensive, and Humphrey was "hard up". Werner recognised Humphrey's ability and appointed her as his assistant, with a salary, the first woman to occupy the post. Humphrey worked hard, and her account of the time suggests that she found the social life disappointing. Humphrey was "the first of his students to succeed in preparing Werner's first new series of geometrically isomeric cobalt complexes, a class of compounds that were crucial in his development and proof of his coordination theory." One of these compounds, the cis-bis(ethylenediamine)dinitrocobalt(III) bromide, was the first synthesis of a chiral octahedral cobalt complex. In 1991, the Swiss Committee on Chemistry donated Humphrey's chiral
crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...
s to the
Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...
, and they are now at
Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private English Baroque and then Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earl of Burlington, Earls of Burlington. It was significantly expanded in the mid-19th cent ...
, in
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. "What a pity for Miss Humphrey that it was not recognized at the time, because she would then have been responsible for an unequivocal proof of the soundness of Werner's coordination theory and the subsequent award of the Nobel prize to him." While one later study has cast doubt on the quality of the sample, Humphrey's status as a pioneer woman scientist remains significant. Her doctoral thesis ''Über die Bindungsstelle der Metalle in ihren Verbindungen und über Dinitritoäthylendiaminkobaltisalze'' was accepted by the University of Zurich in 1901. Humphrey was the first British woman to obtain a doctorate in chemistry, though not the first in Zurich. An American chemist,
Rachel Holloway Lloyd Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...
, had already done so in 1887, and it had become "a haven for women students from all over Europe". On completion of her thesis, Humphrey was recommended to move to
Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
to continue research under
Wilhelm Ostwald Wilhelm Friedrich Ostwald (; – 4 April 1932) was a Latvian chemist and philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst and Svante Arrhenius. ...
. However, the attitude to women there was quite different from Zurich, and she would not tolerate a regime where she was not allowed to work in the laboratories in case her presence distracted the men from their work.


Later life

After her return to England, Humphrey joined the staff of
Arthur Sanderson & Sons Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd, now known simply as Sanderson, is a British manufacturer of fabrics and wallpaper, founded in 1860. Company The company was founded in 1860 in Islington, London, by Arthur Sanderson (1829–1882), who began b ...
, a British manufacturer of fabrics and wallpaper, where she worked until she retired. She was employed as a research chemist at their factory in
Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...
, but little is known of her work there. In the 1911 census, she was living in Hampstead with her two elder sisters, and gave her profession simply as "chemist". In 1904, Humphrey was one of nineteen women chemists to petition the
Chemical Society 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. ...
for admission of women to fellowship. This was eventually granted in 1920 after the
Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexual reproduction, sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an o ...
was passed. Humphrey was subsequently elected to fellowship on 4 May 1933, twenty-nine years after she signed the first petition to the society. An interview with Humphrey about her experiences in Zurich was published in the ''
New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...
'' on her 100th birthday, 11 September 1975. Edith Humphrey died on 25 February 1978 in Highgate, London. In July 2023, the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
published an entry on Humphrey.


References


See also

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrey, Edith British chemists British inorganic chemists 1875 births 1978 deaths British women chemists Alumni of Bedford College, London British women centenarians People educated at Camden School for Girls People educated at North London Collegiate School 19th-century British chemists 20th-century British scientists 20th-century British chemists 19th-century British women scientists 20th-century British women scientists People from Kentish Town