Sir James Johnston Dobbie, FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FIC FCS (4 August 1852 – 19 June 1924) was known for the isolation, chemical structure, and physical properties (especially UV and visible spectra) of alkaloids. He isolated hydroxycodeine from opium and synthesized diphenylene. He carried out UV-VIS spectra of gaseous main group elements and organic compounds.

Life

He was born at 189 Duke Street in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 4 August 1852 the son of Alexander Dobbie a local chemist. He was educated at Glasgow High School and then

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

graduating MA in 1875. He continued as a postgraduate at

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

under

William Ramsay Sir William Ramsay (; 2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements ...

, receiving a DSc in 1879. Dobbie was appointed first head of chemistry at

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

, then the University College of North Wales, in 1884 and built the department up in its early years. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1903. His proposers were Sir

Francis Grant Ogilvie Sir Francis Grant Ogilvie CB FRSE (8 August 1858 – 14 December 1930) was a Scottish educator, museum director, and scientist. Birth, parentage and early career Ogilvie was born in Monymusk Monymusk () is a planned village in the M ...

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish Organic chemistry, organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildi ...

Ramsay Heatley Traquair Ramsay Heatley Traquair FRSE FRS (30 July 1840 – 22 November 1912) was a Scottish naturalist and palaeontologist who became a leading expert on fossil fish. Traquair trained as a medical doctor, but his thesis was on aspects of fish anatomy ...

and Andrew Gray. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1904. He was director of the Royal Scottish Museum from 1903 to 1909, and principal of the Government Laboratory, London from 1909 to 1920. He was appointed President in the

Royal Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its ai ...

from 1915–1917 and was elected president of 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. ...

in 1919. He was knighted in 1915. His family was long associated with

Fairlie, North Ayrshire Fairlie is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Location and status Fairlie sits on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde and looks across to the Isle of Arran and the Cumbraes. It is currently little more than a commuter village, with ...

, in 1920 in retired to the village, and on 19 June 1924 he died there.Sir James J. Dobbie, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. Obituary notices
Retrieved 13 May 2023. He is buried in

Largs Largs () is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its histor ...

Cemetery.

Family

He married Violet Chilton in 1887. Son Alexander Middleton Dobbie of the Black Watch 6th Bn. died 13th April 1918 aged 19 years old and is commemorated at Prenes British Cemetery in France.

References

* ''J. Chem. Soc. Trans.'' 1924, 125, pp. 2681–2690. * ''Proc. Roy. Soc. A'' 1925, 107, pp. vi-viii. * ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography,'' Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970–1990, vol. 11, p. 278b. *

J. R. Partington James Riddick Partington (30 June 1886 – 9 October 1965) was a British chemist and historian of chemistry who published multiple books and articles in scientific magazines. His most famous works were ''An Advanced Treatise on Physical Chemis ...

, ''A History of Chemistry,'' Macmillan, 1964, vol. 4, p. 840. * ''Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci.'' 1952, 81, pp. 47–49. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbie, James 1852 births 1924 deaths Scottish chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Chemical Society People from Fairlie, North Ayrshire