J. R. Partington
| J. R. Partington | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 June 1886 Bolton |
| Died | 9 October 1965 Northwich |
| Nationality | English |
| Fields | History of science Chemistry |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
James Riddick Partington MBE (30 June 1886 – 9 October 1965) was a British chemist and historian of chemistry.
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Life and work [edit]
Partington was born in Bolton, Lancashire and was educated at the University of Manchester, where he obtained First Class Honours. He was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship and worked with Nernst in Berlin.
During World War I he was first assigned to work with Eric Rideal on the purification of water for troops on the Somme. Later he was transferred to a group led by Frederick G. Donnan, which worked on the production of nitric acid for munitions. Partington was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Military Division for this latter work.
He was a lecturer at the University of Manchester and later the Professor of Chemistry at Queen Mary College, London, from 1919 to 1951.
Partington wrote many books, but he is particularly well known for the five-volume An Advanced Treatise on Physical Chemistry and the four volume A History of Chemistry. Professor Partington collected a considerable library of works on the history of alchemy and chemistry which is preserved in the John Rylands Library.[1]
In 1965 he was awarded the George Sarton Medal, the most prestigious award of the History of Science Society.
Partington died on 9 October 1965 in Northwich, England.[2]
Selected writings [edit]
- 1911: Higher Mathematics for Chemical Students
- 1913: A Text-book of Thermodynamics
- 1921: A Text-book of Inorganic Chemistry for University Students
- 1937: A Short History of Chemistry, London: Macmillan. Reissued by Dover Publications, New York ISBN 0-486-65977-1
- 1949: An Advanced Treatise on Physical Chemistry, London: Longmans, 1949 (Volume 1), 1951 (Volume 2), 1952 (Volume 3), 1953 (Volume 4) and 1954 (Volume 5)
- 1960: A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Cambridge: Heffer. Republished: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8018-5954-9
- 1961: A History of Chemistry, Macmillan, 1970 (Volume 1, part I) [The second part of this volume was never published.], 1961 (Volume 2), 1962 (Volume 3), 1964 (Volume 4)
References [edit]
- ^ John Rylands University Library. "Partington Collection". Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- ^ Brock, William H. (2009). "J. R. Partington (1886–1965): Physical Chemistry in Deed and Word". Bulletin for the History of Chemistry 34 (1): 11–20.
Further reading [edit]
- James Riddick Partington (1886–1965)
- Obituary, The Times, 11 October 1965, reprinted in Volume 1 of A History of Chemistry in 1970.
- J. R. Partington, "Dalton's atomic theory", Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica, 90, 1955, pp. 221-225
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