Henry Roscoe (chemist)
Professor the Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe FRS |
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Born | London |
7 January 1833
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. |
Notable awards | Royal Medal (1873) Dalton Medal (1900) Elliott Cresson Medal (1912) |
Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe Kt FRS (7 January 1833 – 18 December 1915) was a British chemist. He is particularly noted for early work on vanadium, photochemical studies, and his assistance in creating Oxo (food), in its earlier liquid form.
Contents
Life and work
Henry Enfield Roscoe was born in London, the son of Henry Roscoe (1800–1836) and Maria Roscoe, née Fletcher (1798–1885), and grandson of William Roscoe (1753–1831).[1] Stanley Jevons the Australian economist was a cousin.
Roscoe studied at the Liverpool Institute for Boys and University College London. He then went to Heidelberg to work under Robert Bunsen, who became a lifelong friend. He also befriended William Dittmar.[2] In 1857, Roscoe returned to England with Dittmar and was appointed to the chair of chemistry at Owens College, Manchester, with Dittmar as his assistant. In 1858 the state of the college was such that the Manchester Guardian called it "a mortifying failure". In the same year Roscoe was accosted by a tramp near the college who asked him if it was the night asylum; he wrote "I replied that it was not but if he would call again in six months' time he might find lodgings there."[3] Roscoe remained at the college until 1886 by which time the Victoria University had been established.[4] In 1881 he was a founder, and first president, of the Society of Chemical Industry and was also chair of the Manchester Section of the Society.[5] From 1885 to 1895 he was MP for Manchester South. He served on several royal commissions appointed to consider educational questions, in which he was keenly interested, and from 1896 to 1902 was vice-chancellor of the University of London. He was knighted in 1884.
Roscoe's scientific work includes a memorable series of researches carried out with Bunsen between 1855 and 1862, in which they laid the foundations of comparative photochemistry. In 1864 they carried out what is reputed to be the first flashlight photography, using magnesium as a light source.[6] In 1867, Roscoe began an elaborate investigation of vanadium and its compounds, and devised a process for preparing it pure in the metallic state, at the same time showing that the substance which had previously passed for the pure metal was contaminated with oxygen. In so doing he corrected Berzelius's value for the atomic mass. Roscoe was awarded the 1868 Bakerian Lecture for this work. He also carried out researches on niobium, tungsten, uranium, perchloric acid, and the solubility of ammonia.
He was the uncle of Beatrix Potter. The mineral Roscoelite was named after him, due to its vanadium content and Roscoe's work on that element.
Roscoe received an honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901.[7] In November 1909 he was sworn in the Privy Council.[8] He was awarded the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal in 1912.
Publications
Roscoe's publications include, besides several elementary books on chemistry that had a wide circulation and were translated into many foreign languages, Lectures on Spectrum Analysis (1869); a Treatise on Chemistry (the first edition of which appeared in 1877–1892); A New View of Dalton's Atomic Theory, with Dr Arthur Harden (1896); and an Autobiography (1906). The Treatise on Chemistry, written in collaboration with Carl Schorlemmer (1834–1892), who was appointed his private assistant at Manchester in 1859, official assistant in the laboratory in 1861, and professor of organic chemistry in 1874, was long regarded as a standard work. Roscoe's Lessons in Elementary Chemistry (1866) passed through many editions in the UK and abroad.
Selected works
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Commemoration
The Roscoe Building at the University of Manchester was named after Professor Roscoe. It is a large general-purpose teaching facility used for various levels of teaching in Brunswick Street.[9]
References
- ↑ See the two-volume biography: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. and Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Yates, Tim (1975) The University of Manchester. Victoria University of Manchester; p. 4
- ↑ Charlton, H. B. (1951) Portrait of a University: chap. IV College to University: the Roscoe-Ward Epoch. Manchester: University Press
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ The Times (London). 14 June 1901. (36481),
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 28311. p. . 23 November 1909.
- ↑ The University of Manchester: Campus Map. man.ac.uk.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Enfield Roscoe. |
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Henry Roscoe (chemist) |
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Roscoe
- Comments on photograph of Kirchhoff, Bunsen, and Roscoe
- Henry Enfield Roscoe (Open University)
- Portraits of Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Obituary (by Charles A. Keane, The Analyst, 1916, 41, 63 – 700)
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Henry Roscoe Papers, John Rylands Library University of Manchester
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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New constituency | Member of Parliament for Manchester South 1885 – 1895 |
Succeeded by Marquess of Lorne |
Academic offices | ||
Preceded by | Vice-Chancellor of University of London 1896–1902 |
Succeeded by Dr Archibald Robertson |
Professional and academic associations | ||
Preceded by | President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 1882–84 |
Succeeded by William Crawford Williamson |
Preceded by | Secretary of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society 1860–74 |
Succeeded by Joseph Baxendell |
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- English chemists
- Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester
- Alumni of University College London
- People associated with the University of London
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- 1833 births
- 1915 deaths
- Royal Medal winners
- Knights Bachelor
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- UK MPs 1885–1886
- UK MPs 1886–1892
- UK MPs 1892–1895
- Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
- Presidents of the British Science Association
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
- Recipients of the Dalton Medal