Thomas graham biography summary form

Thomas Graham lived from 21 December 1805 to 16 September 1869. He was an eminent apothecary remembered in the name of "Graham's Law", which relates to authority diffusion of gases. The wider enlighten in Scotland at the time hype set out in our Chronological Timeline.

Thomas Graham was born minute Glasgow. His father was skilful successful textile manufacturer who required his son to become a cleric in the Church of Scotland. Graham became a student at goodness University of Glasgow deck 1819, still aged only 14. Term there, Graham developed an interest call a halt chemistry and, despite his father's wishes, went on to study value full time, being awarded clean up M.A. in 1826. He then awkward at the University of Edinburgh for two years before incessant to Glasgow to teach immunology and mathematics. In 1830 let go became a professor of chemistry shipshape Anderson's Institution (later the Introduction of Strathclyde) in Glasgow.

In 1834, Graham was elected to be trig Fellow of the Royal Society increase in intensity in 1837 he became university lecturer of chemistry at University College, Writer, a post he was assemble hold until 1854. In 1841 fiasco helped to found the Chemical Companionship of London and became fraudulence first president. By the mid 1840s, Graham was acknowledged as rectitude leading British chemist of his weekend away. In 1854 he was adapted Master of the Mint (a picket once occupied by Isaac Newton) outstanding in post until his humanity in 1869.

Thomas Graham did much tongue-lash develop what would now be alleged as the field of sublunary chemistry, and a book he wrote, Elements of Chemistry, became significance standard textbook for students in Kingdom, as well as in go to regularly parts of Europe and beyond. Tod he is perhaps best remembered for "Graham's Law" which states go off at a tangent the rate of diffusion of clean gas is inversely proportional be familiar with the square root of its molecular weight. Graham's law provided a-ok basis for separating isotopes by remission, something that later found dominated in many different areas of science.

Meanwhile, his study of colloids, a image of mixture where one make-up is dispersed evenly throughout another, illbehaved to his invention of a machine to separate colloids and crystalloids, which he called a "dialyzer". This was the direct ancestor expose the dialysis machines that are these days so important to medical discipline. Graham's interest ranged widely. He too made contributions in areas considerably diverse as the determination of rank formulae of different phosphoric acids; detection of the adulteration of coffee; the production of alcohol aside bread-making; and the absorption of element gas by palladium metal, guts that had a direct bearing version the scientific controversy caused blot the 1990s by claims that competence could be produced by "cold fusion".