H. E. Watson

Last updated

H. E. Watson
Born
Herbert Edmeston Watson

(1886-05-17)17 May 1886
Kew, UK
Died24 September 1980(1980-09-24) (aged 94)
Woking, UK
Alma mater University College London
University of Berlin
University of Geneva
Trinity College, Cambridge
Known for Chemistry
SpouseKathleen Rowson
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
Chemical Engineering
Institutions University College London
Indian Institute of Science

Herbert Edmeston Watson (FRIC FIChemE) (17 May 1886 - 24 September 1980) was Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering at University College London and the inventor of the low voltage neon glow lamp. [1] [2]

Contents

Education

Watson attended Marlborough School. He completed a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at University College London in 1908 under the tutorship of Sir William Ramsay. [3] In Watson's notes from Ramsay Intermediate Lectures in 1904-05 he said of Ramsay: [4]

No mere notes however convey the fascination of the course or the method of its delivery; still less can they describe the innumerable experiments, ranging from the isolation of argon from the air, to the vocal effects of hydrogen when inhaled, which accompanied it. Practically every laboratory preparation described was carried out on the lecture bench, and a sample of every substance mentioned was to be seen. Any unusual properties were demonstrated.

While under Ramsay, Watson worked with him on "The refraction and dispersion of neon", [5] while Ramsay presented Watson's work "The spectrum of the lighter constituents of the air" to the Royal Society in 1908, [6] and "The spectrum of radium emanation" to the Royal Society in 1909. [7] Also while at UCL, Watson modified Chick's Law, the relationship between the kill efficiency of organisms and contact time with a disinfectant, that had been created by Harriette Chick, [8] by including the coefficient of specific lethality. [9] The 1908 amendment is known as The Chick-Watson Equation.

Watson studied for his Doctor of Science at several institutions. In 1909 he studied at the University of Berlin under Walter Nernst. During 1910 he was at the University of Geneva under Philippe-Auguste Guye, completing his studies at the Trinity College, Cambridge under Joseph John Thomson in 1911. [3] During this time he was awarded the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship. [10] At Cambridge, he created the first low voltage neon glow lamp which worked at 180  V . [1] [2] Thomson presented the work of Watson and Francis William Aston to the Royal Academy in 1912, [10] and Watson' s work on "Some experiments on the electrical discharge in helium and neon" to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. [11] He graduated from his Doctor of Science at University College London in 1912. [12]

Career

In 1911 he joined the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore as an associate professor, [1] [13] [14] before progressing to the role of Professor of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry at the Institute in 1916. [1] During 1916, Watson and J. J. Sudborough successfully extracted the first sample of sandalwood oil in India at the institute. [15] He resigned from the role in 1933, after the new director of the Institute, Sir C. V. Raman, started to redirect funds from the chemistry department to physics. [16]

In 1934 he became the third Ramsay professor of chemical engineering at University College London after the death of the previous incumbent W. E. Gibbs, and held the position until his retirement in 1951. [17] At the end of the war, Watson fell out with Professor of Chemistry Ingold over the quality of delivery of chemistry to chemical engineering students, which was resolved by Watson hiring his own chemistry lecturer. [18] Upon his retirement he was made Emeritus Professor at UCL, being replaced by M. B. Donald as the Ramsay professor. In 1961, he wrote the paper "The development of the neon glow lamp (1911–61)" which appeared in Nature . [19]

Personal life and death

Watson was born to Arthur Edmeston Watson and Helen Louisa Rumpff, in Kew on the 17 May 1886. He married Kathleen Margaret Rowson in 1917, who died in 1951, and had one son Bruce Edmeston Watson in 1918. Watson died on the 24 September 1980 in Woking. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neon</span> Chemical element, symbol Ne and atomic number 10

Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of air.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Ramsay</span> Scottish chemist (1852–1916)

Sir William Ramsay 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 in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year for their discovery of argon. After the two men identified argon, Ramsay investigated other atmospheric gases. His work in isolating argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon led to the development of a new section of the periodic table.

Robert H. Whytlaw-Gray, OBE, FRS was an English chemist, born in London. He studied at the University of Glasgow and University College London and was Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Leeds. He and William Ramsay isolated radon and studied its physical properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lennard-Jones</span> Early 20th-century English mathematician and physicist

Sir John Edward Lennard-Jones was a British mathematician and professor of theoretical physics at the University of Bristol, and then of theoretical science at the University of Cambridge. He was an important pioneer in the development of modern computational chemistry and theoretical chemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis William Aston</span> British chemist and physicist (1877–1945)

Francis William Aston FRS was a British chemist and physicist who won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery, by means of his mass spectrograph, of isotopes in many non-radioactive elements and for his enunciation of the whole number rule. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Norman Collie</span> English scientist, mountaineer and explorer (1859–1942)

Professor John Norman Collie FRSE FRS, commonly referred to as J. Norman Collie, was an English scientist, mountaineer and explorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Lonsdale</span> Irish crystallographer and activist (1903–1971)

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale was an Irish crystallographer, pacifist, and prison reform activist. She proved, in 1929, that the benzene ring is flat by using X-ray diffraction methods to elucidate the structure of hexamethylbenzene. She was the first to use Fourier spectral methods while solving the structure of hexachlorobenzene in 1931. During her career she attained several firsts for female scientists, including being one of the first two women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1945, first female professor at University College London, first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography, and first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Henry (Solomon) Lipson CBE FRS was a British physicist. He was Professor of Physics, Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 1954–77, then professor emeritus.

Hugh Christopher Longuet-Higgins was a British scholar and teacher. He was the Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge for 13 years until 1967 when he moved to the University of Edinburgh to work in the developing field of cognitive science. He made many significant contributions to our understanding of molecular science. He was also a gifted amateur musician, both as performer and composer, and was keen to advance the scientific understanding of this art. He was the founding editor of the journal Molecular Physics.

The 1851 Research Fellowship is a scheme conducted by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to annually award a three-year research scholarship to approximately eight "young scientists or engineers of exceptional promise". The fellowship is open to all nationalities and fields of science, including physical or biological sciences, mathematics, applied science, and any branch of engineering. The fellowship can be held anywhere in the United Kingdom.

John Stuart Anderson FRS, FAA, was a British and Australian scientist who was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne and Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford.

John William Mullin FRSc FIChemE FREng was a Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering and world expert in crystallisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert McLeod</span>

Herbert McLeod, FRS was an English chemist, noted for the invention of the McLeod gauge and for the invention of a sunshine recorder.

Sir Eric Keightley Rideal, was a British physical chemist. He worked on a wide range of subjects, including electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, catalysis, electrophoresis, colloids and surface chemistry. He is best known for the Eley–Rideal mechanism, which he proposed in 1938 with Daniel D. Eley. He is also known for the textbook that he authored, An Introduction to Surface Chemistry (1926), and was awarded honours for the research he carried out during both World Wars and for his services to chemistry.

Edgar Thomas Snowden Appleyard was a physicist and pioneer in the fields of thin films and superconductivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnesium monohydride</span> Chemical compound

Magnesium monohydride is a molecular gas with formula MgH that exists at high temperatures, such as the atmospheres of the Sun and stars. It was originally known as magnesium hydride, although that name is now more commonly used when referring to the similar chemical magnesium dihydride.

Sir Thomas Henry Havelock FRS was an English applied mathematician, hydrodynamicist and mathematical physicist. He is known for Havelock's law (1907).

The Longstaff Prize is given to a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry who has done the most to advance the science of chemistry. First awarded in 1881, it was originally conferred by the Chemical Society and known as the Longstaff Medal.

Nora Henriette de Leeuw is the inaugural executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at University of Leeds. Her research field is computational chemistry and investigates biomaterials, sustainable energy, and carbon capture and storage.

Maxwell Bruce Donald FRIC FIChemE FRHistS was a Ramsay professor of chemical engineering at University College London and a historian specialising in mining.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Whos Was Who. Vol. 7. London. 1981. pp. 836–837. ISBN   9780713621761.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. 1 2 "Low voltage neon lamp, made at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1911". The Science Museum. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Herbert Edmeston Watson". Chemistry Tree. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Davies, A. G. (2012). "Sir William Ramsay and the noble gases". Science Progress. 95 (Pt 1): 23–49. doi:10.3184/003685012X13307058213813. PMC   10365523 . PMID   22574384. S2CID   12592582.
  5. ↑ Cuthbertson, C.; Cuthbertson, M. (1910). "On the refraction and dispersion of neon". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A. 83 (561): 149–151. Bibcode:1910RSPSA..83..149C. doi: 10.1098/rspa.1910.0001 .
  6. ↑ Watson, H. E. (1908). "The spectrum of the lighter constituents of the air". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A. 81 (546): 181–194. Bibcode:1908RSPSA..81..181W. doi: 10.1098/rspa.1908.0069 . JSTOR   92984.
  7. ↑ Watson, H. E. (1909). "The spectrum of radium emanation". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A. 83 (559): 50–61. Bibcode:1909RSPSA..83...50W. doi: 10.1098/rspa.1909.0072 .
  8. ↑ Chick, H. (1908). "An investigation of the laws of disinfection". Journal of Hygiene. 8 (1): 92–158. doi:10.1017/s0022172400006987. PMC   2167134 . PMID   20474353.
  9. ↑ Watson, H. E. (1908). "A note on the variation of the rate of disinfection with change in the concentration of the disinfectant". Epidemiology and Infection. 8 (4): 536–542. doi:10.1017/s0022172400015928. PMC   2167149 . PMID   20474372.
  10. 1 2 Aston, F. W.; Watson, H. E. (1912). "On the relation between current, voltage, pressure, and the length of the dark space in different gases". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A. 86 (585): 168–180. Bibcode:1912RSPSA..86..168A. doi: 10.1098/rspa.1912.0011 . JSTOR   93239.
  11. ↑ Watson, H. E. (1914). "Some experiments on the electrical discharge in helium and neon". Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 17: 90–107.
  12. ↑ "Doctor of Science: Honours and Higher Degrees: Internal Students". British History Online. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  13. ↑ "Early academics at IISc". Connect IISc. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  14. ↑ {{cite news|url=https://m.timesofindia.com/city/bengaluru/100-and-still-counting%7Ctitle=100 and still counting|author=Prashanth |first=G. N.|work=Times of India|date=25 July 2010|access-date=9 April 2021}
  15. ↑ "Science India Mar 2022". Science India Magazine. March 2022. p. 11.
  16. ↑ Chattopadhyay, A. (23 July 2020). "How Sir C V Raman used and abused press for his advantage". Indus Scrolls. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  17. ↑ "History". UCL Department of Chemical Engineering. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  18. ↑ Peppas. N (6 December 2012). One Hundred Years of Chemical Engineering. Springer. ISBN   978-94-009-2307-2.
  19. ↑ Watson, H. E. (1961). "The development of the neon glow lamp (1911–61)". Nature. 191 (4793): 1040–1041. Bibcode:1961Natur.191.1040W. doi:10.1038/1911040a0. S2CID   28398580.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.