Sir Robert John Kane (24 September 1809 – 16 February 1890) was an Irish

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

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

Early life

Kane was born at 48 Henry Street, Dublin on 24 September 1809 to John and Eleanor Kean (née Troy). His father was involved in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...

and fled for a time to France where he studied chemistry. Back in Dublin, Kean (now Kane) founded the Kane Company and manufactured sulphuric acid. The young Kane studied chemistry at his father's factory, and attended lectures at the Royal Dublin Society as a teenager. He published his first paper in 1828, ''Observations on the existence of chlorine in the native peroxide of manganese'', in the London Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and Art. The following year, his description of the natural arsenide of manganese resulted in the compound being named Kaneite in his honour. He studied medicine at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, graduating in 1834 whilst working in the Meath Hospital. He was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the Apothecaries' Hall, Dublin in 1831, which earned him the moniker of the "boy professor". In the following year he participated in the founding of the Dublin Journal of Medical Science.

Academic life

Chemistry

On the strength of his book ''Elements of Practical Pharmacy'' he was elected to the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

in 1832. He studied

acid An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. Hydron, hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis ...

s, showed that

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

was

electropositive Electronegativity, symbolized as , is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the d ...

, and proposed the existence of the ethyl radical. In 1836 he travelled to

Gießen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the German state () of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students. Th ...

in Germany to study

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

with

Justus von Liebig Justus ''Freiherr'' von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a Germans, German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biology, biological chemistry; he is ...

. In 1843 he was awarded the

's Cunningham Medal for his work on the nature and constitution of compounds of Ammonia. He published a three-volume ''Elements of Chemistry'' in 1841–1844, and a detailed report on the ''Industrial Resources of Ireland''. This included the first assessment of the water power potential of the River Shannon, which was not realised until the 1920s at Ardnacrusha.

Great Famine of Ireland

He became a political adviser on scientific and industrial matters. He served on several commissions to enquire into the Great Famine of Ireland along with Professors Lindley and Taylor, all more or less ineffective. His political and administrative work meant that his contribution to chemistry ceased after about 1844.

Educational work

His work on Irish industry led to his being appointed director of the Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin in 1845. The Museum was a successor to the Museum of Economic Geology, and was housed at 51 St Stephen's Green. Also in 1845 he became the first President of Queen's College, Cork (now

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

). He did not spend a lot of time in Cork as he had work in Dublin, and his wife lived there. The science building on the campus of this college (now University College Cork) is named in honour of Kane. He was knighted in 1846. In 1873, Kane took up the post of National Commissioner for Education. He was elected president of the Royal Irish Academy in 1877, holding the role until 1882. In 1880 he was appointed the first chancellor of the newly created Royal University of Ireland. After a motion to admit women to the University, put forward by Prof. Samuel Haughton at Academic Council in Trinity College Dublin, 10 March 1880, Kane was appointed to a committee of 10 men to look into the matter. He was opposed to the admission of women, and nothing was reported from the committee in the Council minutes for the next 10 years (Parkes, 2004).

Family

Kane married Katherine Sophia Baily on 23 August 1838, with whom he had seven surviving children. Kane's eldest son Robert Romney Kane was known as a barrister. The second son, Henry Coey Kane, became an admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Bibliography

*Kane, R.J. (1831) ''Elements of Practical Pharmacy'', Dublin : Hodges & Smith *Kane, R.J. (1849) ''Elements of chemistry, theoretical and practical : including the most recent discoveries and applications of the science to medicine and pharmacy, to agriculture, and to manufactures'', 2nd ed., Dublin : Hodges and Smith, 1069 p. *Kane, R. 8441971) ''Industrial Resources of Ireland'', The Development of industrial society series, Shannon, Ireland : Irish University Press, *Parkes, S. M. (ed) (2004) A Danger to the Men? A History of Women in Trinity College Dublin, 1904-2004. Lilliput Press, Dublin.