Edward Frankland
Edward Frankland
CAD$56.95
This is the first scientific biography of Edward Frankland, probably the most eminent chemist of nineteenth-century Britain. Frankland discovered the chemical bond and founded the science of organometallic chemistry. He was a leading reformer of chemistry teaching, and the government's close adviser on urban water purity. From an apprenticeship in a druggist's shop in Lancaster, he was to occupy the first chemical chair at Manchester, and become professor at what became Imperial College. He was knighted in 1897. Today an obscurity of reputation stems from the conspiracy of silence surrounding Frankland's origins as an illegitimate child. Recently, however, Professor Russell has gained access to a vast collection of his private papers. Russell's authoritative account discloses, amongst much else, this web of conspiracy in the scientific community, and will be of great interest to professional chemists, historians of science, and general readers concerned with the social fabric of Victorian England.
- The historical development of fundamental ideas in chemistry
- Historical drama of personal triumph over adversity of disadvantaged background
- Important record of Victorian society and politics of science
Reviews & endorsements
"This throughly reserached, excellent biography of an underappreciated Victorian chemist draws on newly investigated papers of the chemist and his family....His [Russell] book is well illustrated, fully referenced and indexed....Strongly recommended." H. Goldwhite, Choice
"Russell's thoroughly researched and meticulously documented book contains 52 illustrations and Frankland's original formulas along with their modern equivalents and it is methodically organized into numbered sections and subsections. He is completely objective and devoid of hero worship and states A biographer does no one a service by implying that his subject has no faults....We heartily recommend it to both historians of science and chemists interested in the development of their science." George B. Kauffman and Laura M. Kauffman
"Russell's thoroughly researched and meticulously documented book contains 52 illustrations and Frankland's original formulas along with their modern equivalents, and it is methodically organized....His book considers in engrossing and fascinating detail every aspect of Frankland's life and career and is likely to prove to be a definitive biography. We heartily recommend it to both historians od science and chemists interested in the development of their science." George B. Kauffman and Laurie M. Kauffman, Angew.Chem.Int.Ed.Engi
"Colin Russell's biography is significant.... Finally, on its considerable merits alone this is an important biography. It is comprehensive and well-written and reflects a lifetime's work on the life, science, and Victorian milieu of Edward Frankland." Christopher Ritter, Historical Studies in the Physical & Biological
Product details
December 2003Paperback
9780521545815
556 pages
246 × 189 × 29 mm
0.98kg
52 b/w illus. 17 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Lancastrian inheritance
- 2. The road to discovery
- 3. Queenwood
- 4. New worlds in Germany
- 5. Fundamental discoveries in chemistry
- 6. Frankland and the development of valency
- 7. Manchester: 'The educational and commercial utility of chemistry'
- 8. Return to the metropolis
- 9. Advances in organic chemistry
- 10. The communication of chemistry
- 11. The X-Club and beyond
- 12. Family: years of crisis
- 13. The analysis of water supply
- 14. 'The wildest parts of nature'
- 15. Power
- 16. Retirement years
- 17. The last journey.
