Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus, first baronet (1827–1902), chemist and explosives expert, was born on 17 July 1827 at Woolwich, the eldest son of Johann Leopold Abel (1795–1871), a music master in Kennington, and his wife, Louisa (d. 1864), daughter of Martin Hopkins...
Article
Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus, first baronet (1827–1902), chemist and explosives expert
Robert Steele
revised by K. D. Watson
Image
Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus, first baronet (1827–1902)
Maker: Frank Bramley
In
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, first baronet (1827–1902) by Frank Bramley, 1900 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Accum, Friedrich Christian (1769–1838), chemist
Brian Gee
Accum, Friedrich Christian (1769–1838), chemist, was born on 29 March 1769 at Bückeburg, Westphalia, the sixth of the seven children of Christian Accum (1727–1772), a soap maker, and his wife, Judith Susanne Marthe, née Le Motte (1732–1828). His father, named ...
Article
Aikin, Arthur (1773–1854), natural scientist and author
H. S. Torrens
Aikin, Arthur (1773–1854), natural scientist and author, was born on 19 May 1773 at Warrington, Lancashire, the eldest son of John Aikin (1747–1822) and his wife, Martha (c.1746–1830), daughter of Arthur Jennings of Cheapside, London. His brothers were Charles Rochemont Aikin...
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Aikin, Arthur (1773–1854)
Maker: William Brockedon
Arthur Aikin (1773–1854) by William Brockedon, 1826 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Akers, Sir Wallace Alan (1888–1954), chemist and industrialist
Fleck
revised by Joseph Gross
Akers, Sir Wallace Alan (1888–1954), chemist and industrialist, was born on 9 September 1888 at Walthamstow, the second child of Charles Akers, a chartered accountant, and his wife, Mary Ethelreda Brown. He was educated at Lake House School in Bexhill, and at Aldenham School...
Article
Albery, (Wyndham) John (1936–2013), chemist
Mary Archer
Albery, (Wyndham) John (1936–2013), chemist, was born on 5 April 1936 at 19 Bentinck Street, Marylebone, London, the eldest child of Michael James Albery (1910–1975), barrister, and his wife, Mary Laughton, née Isaac (1909–1993). At the time of his birth registration his parents lived at ...
Article
Albright, Arthur (1811–1900), chemist and phosphorus manufacturer
Frank Greenaway
Albright, Arthur (1811–1900), chemist and phosphorus manufacturer, was born on 3 March 1811 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, into a Quaker family, the second son and sixth of ten children of William Albright (1776–1852), grocer and mercer of Charlbury, and his wife, Rachel Tanner...
Article
Allen, Norman Percy (1903–1972), metallurgist
P. B. Hirsch
revised
Allen, Norman Percy (1903–1972), metallurgist, was born in Wrexham, north Wales, on 5 June 1903, the fifth of ten children, seven girls and three boys, of Sidney Edward Allen, an accountant in the borough treasurer's department at Wrexham, and his wife, Emily Eliza Davis...
Article
Allen, Sir Peter Christopher (1905–1993), chemist and industrialist
Martin Adeney
Allen, Sir Peter Christopher (1905–1993), chemist and industrialist, was born at Mawmead, Ashtead, Surrey, on 8 September 1905, the son of Sir Ernest King Allen (1864–1937), barrister and later assistant public trustee, and his wife, Florence Mary, née Gellatly. After Harrow School (1919–24) he studied natural sciences at ...
Article
Allhusen, Christian Augustus Henry (1806–1890), chemical manufacturer
N. G. Coley
revised
Allhusen, Christian Augustus Henry (1806–1890), chemical manufacturer, was born on 2 December 1806 in Kiel, Germany, the fourth son in the family of five sons and two daughters of Carl Christian Allhusen, merchant of Kiel, and his wife, Anna Margaretha Schroder. The French occupation of ...
Article
Allin, John (1623–1683), nonconformist minister and alchemist
Donna Bilak
Allin, John (1623–1683), nonconformist minister and alchemist, was born on 13 October 1623 in Wrentham, Suffolk, the son of the Revd John Allen, or Allin (c. 1596–1671), and his first wife, Margaret, née Morse (c.1598–1653). At the time of Allin's birth his father was the curate in ...
Article
Anderson, (John) Stuart (1908–1990), chemist
P. Day
revised
Anderson, (John) Stuart (1908–1990), chemist, was born on 9 January 1908 in Islington, London, the only son and younger child of John Anderson, master cabinet-maker, and his wife, Emma Sarah Pitt. His parents, both widowed, married about 1901–2. From his father's previous marriage there were two stepsisters about twenty years older. Family circumstances declined catastrophically in 1916, when his father died. Just before that, his mother had gone to work in a munitions factory. His sister left school early and the family suffered ten years of acute poverty. These years, during which he was solitary, made ...
Article
Anderson, Thomas (1819–1874), chemist
G. F. Rodwell
revised by T. B. Anderson
Anderson, Thomas (1819–1874), chemist, was born on 2 July 1819, probably in Quality Street, Leith, the eldest of nine children of Charles Anderson (1772–1855), a surgeon, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John Rhind, manager of an Edinburgh insurance office. His grandfather, also named ...
Article
Andrews, Thomas (1813–1885), chemist
Arthur Harden
revised by Anita McConnell
Andrews, Thomas (1813–1885), chemist, was born on 19 December 1813 at 3 Donegall Square, Belfast, eldest of the six children of Thomas John Andrews, a linen merchant of Belfast, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of James Stevenson. He received his early education at the ...
Article
Andrews, Thomas (1847–1907), metallurgist and ironmaster
Geoffrey Tweedale
Andrews, Thomas (1847–1907), metallurgist and ironmaster, was born at 19 Carver Street, Sheffield, on 16 February 1847, the only son of Thomas Andrews and his wife, Mary Bolsover. Thomas Andrews senior was a partner in the Wortley ironworks and the Wortley Silkstone colliery...
Article
Ansell, George Frederick (1826–1880), chemist and assayer
W. P. Courtney
revised by Robert Brown
Ansell, George Frederick (1826–1880), chemist and assayer, was born at Carshalton, Surrey, on 4 March 1826, the son of Robert Ansell (1794–1865), a snuff manufacturer, and his wife, Sarah Amoore (1799–1881). He was apprenticed for four years to a surgeon, but subsequently took up chemistry. He seems to have spent his life in ...
Article
Anthony, Francis (1550–1623), alchemist and physician
F. V. White
Anthony, Francis (1550–1623), alchemist and physician, was born on 16 April 1550, probably in London, the eldest son of Derrick Anthony (c.1522–1599), goldsmith, and his first wife, Elizabeth Erley (d. c.1558), daughter of Richard Erley or Ellerick of Lincolnshire...
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Archer, Frederick Scott (1813–1857)
Maker: Robert Cade
Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857) by Robert Cade, 1855 Royal Photographic Society
Article
Archer, Frederick Scott (1814–1857), inventor of the collodion process in photography
H. T. Wood
revised by John Ward
Archer, Frederick Scott (1814–1857), inventor of the collodion process in photography, was born in Hertford, Hertfordshire, on 30 August 1814, and baptized at All Saints, Hertford, on 21 April 1822, the second son of Thomas Archer (bap. 1779, d. 1822), a butcher at ...
