H. E. Watson | |
---|---|
Born | Herbert Edmeston Watson 17 May 1886 Kew, UK |
Died | 24 September 1980 94) Woking, UK | (aged
Alma mater | University College London University of Berlin University of Geneva Trinity College, Cambridge |
Known for | Chemistry |
Spouse | Kathleen Rowson |
Children | 2 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemistry 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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
Professor John Norman Collie FRSE FRS, commonly referred to as J. Norman Collie, was an English scientist, mountaineer and explorer.
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.
Krypton is a chemical element; it has symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas that occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere and is often used with other rare gases in fluorescent lamps. Krypton is chemically inert.
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.
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.
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.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)