Sir Edmund Langley Hirst

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(21 July 1898 – 29 October 1975), was a British chemist.

Life

Hirst was born in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

on 21 July 1898 the son of Elizabeth (née Langley) and Rev Sim Hirst (1856-1923) a Baptist minister. He was educated in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, Northgate Grammar School,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Madras College Madras College, often referred to as Madras, is a Scottish comprehensive secondary school located in St Andrews, Fife. It educates over 1,400 pupils aged between 11 and 18 and was founded in 1833 by the Rev. Dr Andrew Bell. History Madras ...

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, then studied chemistry at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

with a

Carnegie Scholarship Carnegie may refer to: People *Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name *Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie * Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polyte ...

. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was conscripted in 1917, and persuaded the authorities to return him to the University of St Andrews to study

mustard gas Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name ''mustard gas'' is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually a gas, b ...

. For the final year he served with the Special Brigade of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in France. Returning to University in February 1919 he then obtained his BSc, followed by a doctorate (PhD) in 1921. In 1923 he began lecturing the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and in 1924 went to the Armstrong College in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is als ...

. Here he assisted

Norman Haworth Sir Walter Norman Haworth FRS (19 March 1883 – 19 March 1950) was a British chemist best known for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid ( vitamin C) while working at the University of Birmingham. He received the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chem ...

in 1934 when he became the first to synthesize

Vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) an ...

. In 1947 he moved to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and in 1948 was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

. His proposers were

James Pickering Kendall James Pickering Kendall FRS FRSE (30 July 1889, in Chobham, Surrey – 14 June 1978, in Edinburgh) was a British chemist. Life Kendall was born in Chobham, Surrey to soldier William Henry Kendall of the Royal Horse Artillery, and his second w ...

Edmund Percival Edmund George Vincent Percival, (10 November 1907 – 27 September 1951) was a 20th-century British research chemist. Life He was born in Hinckley in central England on 10 November 1907, the son of Elizabeth Martha Whittaker (1879-1949) and her ...

Thomas Robert Bolam Thomas Robert Bolam FRSE MM (1893–1969) was a 20th century British chemist. Life He was born in Bristol on 7 September 1893. He was educated at the Fairfield Higher Grade school and the Merchant Venturers School in Bristol. He graduated BSc ...

and

David Bain On 20 June 1994, Robin and Margaret Bain and three of their four childrenArawa, Laniet and Stephenwere shot to death in Dunedin, New Zealand. The only suspects were David Cullen Bain, the eldest son and only survivor, and Robin Bain, the father ...

. He served as the Society's Vice President from 1958 to 1959 and President from 1959 to 1964. He won the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize for 1960-64. He held the Forbes Chair of Organic Chemistry at the

and was head of department there from 1959 to 1968. He was knighted in 1964. Hirst received an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

in 1968. In 1973, Hirst developed Hodgkin’s disease, and his health gradually deteriorated until his death in Edinburgh on 29th October, 1975.

Research

Hirst’s researches were extensive and resulted in over 260 publications. He and his co-workers determined the structure of all the known mono-, di-, oligo- and polysaccharides; and worked on the composition and structures of fructans, starches and glycogens, hemicelluloses, seaweed mucilages, and of exudate gums and related polysaccharides. In addition they synthesised authentic mono-, di- and tri-methyl ethers of arabinose, xylose, fucose, fructose, mannuronic, galacturonic and glucuronic acids. Their contributions to carbohydrate chemistry were profound.

Family

He married twice. In 1925 he married Beda Winifred Phoebe Ramsay. She was hospitalised due to mental illness in 1937. The marriage was dissolved in 1948, and Beda died in Glasgow in 1962. Hirst remarried the following year, to Kathleen (Kay) Jenny Harrison. He had no children by either marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirst, Edmund 1898 births 1975 deaths 20th-century British chemists Presidents of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scientists from Preston, Lancashire Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich People educated at Madras College Alumni of the University of St Andrews