William Henry Perkin, Jr.

Education

Perkin was educated at the City of London School and then at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington, London, England, and then in Germany at the universities of Würzburg and Munich. At Munich, he was a doctoral student under Adolf von Baeyer. From 1883 to 1886, he held the position of Privatdocent at the University of Munich. He never lost contact with his friend Baeyer, and delivered the memorial lecture following Baeyer's death in 1917.^[1] In 1887 he returned to Britain and became professor of chemistry at Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Manchester

In 1892 he accepted the chair of organic chemistry at Victoria University of Manchester , England, succeeding Walter Haworth and Eduard Hope graduated at Owens College while Perkin was there. The conflict with isoamyl alcohol which was the starting material for synthetic rubber and therefore industrially relevant, led to the dimissal of Weizmann. In 1912, following a planned change in University politics involving industrial co-operations, which would have resulted in a significant loss of income for Perkin, he accepted a position in Oxford.

Oxford

In 1912 he succeeded Professor Frederick Soddy, lead to the situation that most of the graduates chose physical or inorganic chemistry as their subject, and Perkin got most of his postdoctoral employees from other universities.

Published work

Perkin's work was published in a series of papers in chemical industry. Together with Professor Frederick Kipping, Perkin wrote textbooks on practical chemistry, inorganic and organic chemistry.

Honours and awards

Perkin was a fellow of the Royal Society. He was president of the Chemical Society from 1913 to 1916. Perkin was awarded the Longstaff Medal of the Chemical Society in 1900, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1904, and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1925. In 1910, he was made an honorary graduate of the University of Edinburgh, receiving the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.).^[2]

Sources used

• Jack Morrell (1993). "W. H. Perkin, Jr., at Manchester and Oxford: From Irwell to Isis". Osiris 2nd Series 8 (1): 104-126.
• Tenney L. Davis (1933). "The Life and Work of Professor William Henry Perkin, Jr.". Osiris 2nd Series 19 (1): 207-208.
• William Henry Perkin Jr. (1929). "First Pedler lecture. The early history of the synthesis of closed carbon chains". J. Chem. Soc.: 1347-1364. doi:10.1039/JR9290001347.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

References

1. ^ William Henry Perkin, Jr. (1923). "Baeyer memorial lecture". J. Chem. Soc. Trans. 123: 1520-1546. doi:10.1039/CT9232301520.
2. ^ Honorary Graduates of The University of Edinburgh.