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". ...
(30 July 1858 – 3 March 1952) was a chemist and author on the history of chemistry and several chemistry textbooks. He was known as a modest and lovable man.
Life
He was born in Belfast on 30 July 1858. He studied at
Queen's College, Belfast
The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...
and then the College of Science in London before undertaking postgraduate study at
Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...
in central Germany where he gained his doctorate (PhD). He then went to the
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 ...
to work as Professor Alexander Crum Brown's assistant. In 1894 he became a lecturer, and in 1924 he was promoted to Reader.
In 1881 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 ...
. His proposers were
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 ...
,
Peter Guthrie Tait
Peter Guthrie Tait (28 April 18314 July 1901) was a Scottish Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook ''Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he ...
,
Robert Milner Robertson
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...
, and Sir William Turner. With over 70 years as a Fellow he was one of the longest-serving Fellows of all time. He served as vice-president to the Society 1939 to 1942, standing down at the age of 83. He was also Secretary to The Alembic Club.
He translated
Albert Ladenburg
Albert Ladenburg (2 July 184215 August 1911) was a German chemist.
Early life and education
Ladenburg was a member of the well-known Jewish in Mannheim. He was educated at a Realgymnasium at Mannheim and then, after the age of 15, at the tech ...
's Lectures on the Development of the History of Chemistry since the time of
Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), CNRS (
Kings Buildings
The King's Buildings (colloquially known as just King's or KB) is a campus of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Located in the suburb of Blackford, the site contains most of the schools within the College of Science and Engineering, ex ...
.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1911-12
He died in Edinburgh on 3 March 1952, aged 93.
Publications
*''Lectures on the Development of the History of Chemistry since the time of Lavoisier'' (1900)
*''Salts and their Reactions'' (1904)
*''Medico-Physical Works'' (1907) with Crum Brown
*''The collected Papers of
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Carl Wilhelm Scheele (, ; 9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a Swedish Pomerania, German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist.
Scheele discovered oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified the elements molybd ...
'' (1931)
*''A Cullen Chemical Manuscript of 1753'' (1936)
*''The History of the Discovery of Phosgene'' (1945)