Andrew Ure
Andrew Ure | |
|---|---|
 Andrew Ure | |
| Born | May 18, 1778 |
| Died | January 2, 1857 (aged 78) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry and natural philosophy |
| Institutions | Anderson's Institution, Glasgow |
Andrew Ure (18 May 1778 – 2 January 1857) was a Scottish chemist.[1]
He was born in Glasgow, the son of Alexander Ure, a cheesemonger and his wife, Anne. He was described by W. V. Farrar as showing a "combative and rancorous disposition" from an early age. He received an M.D. from Glasgow University in 1801, and served briefly as an army surgeon before taking up the chair in natural philosophy at Anderson's Institution in 1804. His evening lectures on chemistry and mechanics enjoyed considerable success and inspired the foundation of a number of mechanical institutions in Britain and the École des Arts et Métiers in Paris. He married in 1807 and in 1808 became director of the short-lived Garnet Hill observatory.[1]
In 1814, while giving guest lectures in Belfast, he did consulting work for the Irish linen board, devising an 'alkalimeter' which gave volumetric estimates of the alkali contents of industrial substances. This in turn led him to the concept of normality in volumetric analysis. He achieved considerable reputation for his practical chemistry.[1]
In 1818 Ure employed a voltaic pile to electrically activate the muscles of an executed murderer, causing alarm and sensation. In 1819 he divorced his wife, who had become the mistress of a Anderson's Institution colleague. In 1821 he published his first major book, Dictionary of Chemistry, a replacement for William Nicholson's outdated Dictionary. In 1822 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1]
Ure was a scriptural geologist[2] and in 1829 published A New System of Geology, which was severely criticised.[1]
By 1830, Ure's escalating feuds and outside interests led him to resign first from his chair and then from the Institution. He moved to London and set himself up as a consulting chemist (probably the first such in Britain). His work included acting as an expert witness, government commissions and industrial tours of England, Belgium and France. His visits to English textile mills led to his publication of The Philosophy of Manufactures (1835) and Account of the Cotton Industry (1836), dealing with the textile industry. In 1840 he helped found the Pharmaceutical Society.[1]
Ure died in 1857 in London.[1] Michael Faraday's posthumous description of him was:
…his skill and accuracy were well known
as well as the ingenuity of the methods employed in his researches … and it has been stated that no one of his results has ever been impugned. His extensive knowledge enabled him to arrive at conclusions, and to demonstrate facts considered impossible by his compeers
in science[3]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Donald Cardwell, Ure, Andrew (1778–1857),(registration required) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 29 Aug 2009
- ^ Brooke & Cantor 2000, p. 57
- ^ Copeman, W. S. C. "Andrew Ure, M.D., F.R.S. (1778-1857)". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 44 (8). Royal Society of Medicine: 655–662.
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References
- Brooke, John Hedley; Cantor, G. N. (2000). Reconstructing nature: the engagement of science and religion. ISBN 019513706X.
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Works
- The Philosophy of Manufactures, or an Exposition of the Scientific, Moral and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great Britain, (1835)
- Full text 1870 edition A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, vol. 1 of 2.
External links
- Farrar, W. V. (1973). "Andrew Ure, F.R.S., and the Philosophy of Manufactures," Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 27, No. 2. (Feb., 1973), pp. 299–324.
- Andrew Ure article at Schoolnet
- Prof. Andrew Ure article at The Gazetteer for Scotland
- Nature (1875) review of the 1875 7th edition of A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines