Raphael Meldola FRS (19 July 1849 – 16 November 1915) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. He was Professor of Organic Chemistry in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, 1912–15.

Life

Born in

Islington, London Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, he was descended from

Raphael Meldola Raphael Meldola FRS (19 July 1849 – 16 November 1915) was a British chemist and entomologist. He was Professor of Organic Chemistry in the University of London, 1912–15. Life Born in Islington, London, he was descended from Raphael Me ...

(1754–1828), a theologian who was acting minister of the

Spanish and Portuguese Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews, also called Western Sephardim, Iberian Jews, or Peninsular Jews, are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardic Jews who are largely descended from Jews who lived as New Christians in the Iberian Peninsula during the fe ...

in London, 1804. Meldola was the only son of Samuel Meldola; married (1886) Ella Frederica, daughter of Maurice Davis of London. He was educated in chemistry at the

Royal College of Chemistry file:The Royal College of Chemistry; the laboratories. Lithograph Wellcome V0013588.jpg, The Royal College of Chemistry: the laboratories. Lithograph The Royal College of Chemistry (RCC) was a college originally based on Oxford Street in central Lo ...

, London. There is a portrait of Meldola (oil on canvas) by Solomon J. Solomon in the Royal Society collection; also a photograph by Maull & Fox, visiting card size.

Career

Meldola worked in the private laboratory of

John Stenhouse John Stenhouse FRS FRSE FIC FCS (21 October 1809 – 31 December 1880) was a British chemist. In 1854, he invented one of the first practical respirators. He was a co-founder of the Chemical Society in 1841. Life John Stenhouse was born i ...

(FRS 1848). He was appointed Lecturer,

Royal College of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from t ...

(1872) and assisted

Norman Lockyer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (17 May 1836 – 16 August 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen, he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the fo ...

with spectroscopy. Meldola was in charge of the British Eclipse Expedition to the

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of t ...

(1875) and was Professor of Chemistry, Technical College, Finsbury (1885). He was also an entomologist and natural historian. Meldola was a member of many scientific societies:

Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its headquarters are in Burlington House, on Pi ...

; Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry;

Fellow of the Chemical Society A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

(London and Berlin); Member of the Pharmaceutical Society; The Geologists Association; The

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

;

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...

. He was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1886 (

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

was one of his proposers), awarded the

Davy Medal The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000). Re ...

in 1913, and was Vice-President of the Council from 1914–1915. Entomological_Society_1904

Meldola was President of the Entomological Society, 1895–1897; 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. ...

, 1905–1907; Society of Dyers and Colourists, 1907–1910;

Society of Chemical Industry The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Offices The society's headquarters is in Belgrave Square, London. There are semi-in ...

1908-1909;

Institute of Chemistry An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, 1912–1915. He was the first president of the

Maccabaeans Order of Ancient Maccabeans (also Maccabaeans) is an England, Anglo-Jewish society. The order is a friendly society established in 1891,Ilan Pappé, ''Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic'', p. 58, London, Oneworld Publications (20 ...

, 1891–1915. In his honour 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 ...

award the

Meldola medal The Meldola Medal and Prize was awarded annually from 1921 to 1979 by the Chemical Society and from 1980 to 2008 by the Royal Society of Chemistry to a British chemist who was under 32 years of age for promising original investigations in chemistr ...

each year.

Mimicry

Meldola was a keen naturalist, spending five years eagerly collecting evidence on

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

, inspired by

's ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life'')The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by M ...

''. His work provided evidence for natural selection, acknowledged by the evolutionary zoologist

Edward Bagnall Poulton Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton, FRS HFRSE FLS (27 January 1856 – 20 November 1943) was a British evolutionary biologist, a lifelong advocate of natural selection through a period in which many scientists such as Reginald Punnett doubted its ...

in his book ''

The Colours of Animals ''The Colours of Animals'' is a zoology book written in 1890 by Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856–1943). It was the first substantial textbook to argue the case for Charles Darwin, Darwinian selection applying to all aspects of animal colorati ...

'' and thanked by Darwin for information on hexadactyly (a rare case of a person having six digits on each limb).

Meldola Blue

He discovered the synthetic dye Meldola's Blue. Meldola Blau Redoxstrukturen

Notes

References

External links

* * 1849 births 1915 deaths People from Islington (district) Fellows of the Royal Society British people of Italian-Jewish descent British entomologists British chemists Jewish chemists British Sephardi Jews Jewish British scientists {{UK-chemist-stub