Frederick Guthrie
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Frederick Guthrie 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 ...
(15 October 1833 – 21 October 1886) was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
physicist and chemist and academic author. He was the son of Alexander Guthrie, a London tradesman, and the younger brother of mathematician
Francis Guthrie Francis Guthrie (born 22 January 1831 in London; d. 19 October 1899 in Claremont, Cape Town) was a South African mathematician and botanist who first posed the Four Colour Problem in 1852. He studied mathematics under Augustus De Morgan, and ...
. Along with
William Fletcher Barrett Sir William Fletcher Barrett (10 February 1844 in Kingston, Jamaica – 26 May 1925) was an English physicist and parapsychologist. Life He was born in Jamaica where his father, William Garland Barrett, who was an amateur naturalist, Congr ...
he founded the
Physical Society of London The Physical Society of London, England, was a scientific society which was founded in 1874. In 1921, it was renamed the Physical Society, and in 1960 it merged with the Institute of Physics (IOP), the combined organisation eventually adopting the ...
(now the
Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...
) in 1874 and was president of the society from 1884 until 1886. He believed that science should be based on experimentation rather than discussion.


Academic career

His academic career started at
University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget =  ...
, where he studied for three years. He studied chemistry under Thomas Graham and
Alexander William Williamson Prof Alexander William Williamson FRS FRSE PCS MRIA (1 May 18246 May 1904) was an English chemist. He is best known today for the Williamson ether synthesis. Life Williamson was born in 1824 in Wandsworth, London, the second of three childr ...
and mathematics under Augustus De Morgan. In 1852, he submitted his brother Francis's observations to
De Morgan De Morgan or de Morgan is a surname, and may refer to: * Augustus De Morgan (1806–1871), British mathematician and logician. ** De Morgan's laws (or De Morgan's theorem), a set of rules from propositional logic. ** The De Morgan Medal, a trien ...
. In 1854 Guthrie went to
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
to study under
Robert Bunsen Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (; 30 March 1811 – 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium (in 1860) and rubidium (in 1861) with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. The Bu ...
and then in 1855 obtained a PhD at the
University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...
under
Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe (27 September 1818 – 25 November 1884) was a major contributor to the birth of modern organic chemistry. He was a professor at Marburg and Leipzig. Kolbe was the first to apply the term synthesis in a chemical con ...
. In 1856 he joined
Edward Frankland Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 18259 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was ...
, professor of chemistry at Owens College, Manchester. In 1859 he went 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 ...
. Guthrie synthetized mustard gas in 1860 from
ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds). Ethylene i ...
and sulfur dichloride. Gutherie probably was not the first to synthetize mustard gas, but he was among the first to document its toxic effects. Gutherie did his mustard gas synthesis almost simultaneously as Albert Niemann, who also synthetized mustard gas and noted its toxic effects in his own experiments. Both Gutherie and Niemann published their findings on 1 January 1860. In 1860 Guthrie was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...
, his proposer being
Lyon Playfair Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair (1 May 1818 – 29 May 1898) was a British scientist and Liberal politician who was Postmaster-General from 1873 to 1874. Early life Playfair was born at Chunar, Bengal, the son of George Playfair (1782-1846 ...
. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1871. He served as professor of chemistry and physics at the Royal College of Mauritius between 1861 and 1867. Guthrie was later a professor at the
Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...
in London, where he mentored the future experimental physicist
C. V. Boys Sir Charles Vernon Boys, FRS (15 March 1855 – 30 March 1944) was a British physicist, known for his careful and innovative experimental work in the fields of thermodynamics and high-speed photography, and as a popular science communicator th ...
. He also mentored
John Ambrose Fleming Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic ra ...
and was instrumental in turning his interest from chemistry to electricity. He invented the thermionic diode 1873 (this was later given alternate credit to Edison's assistant W. J. Hammer). Guthrie wrote the ''Elements of Heat'' in 1868 and ''Magnetism and Electricity'' in 1873 (published in 1876). Guthrie was also a linguist, playwright, and poet. Under the name Frederick Cerny, he wrote the poems ''The Jew'' (1863) and ''Logrono'' (1877). Guthrie died in 1886 and is buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.


Family

He was married four times. His son
Frederick Bickell Guthrie Frederick Bickell Guthrie (10 December 1861 – 7 February 1927) was an Australian agricultural chemist and a president of the Royal Society of New South Wales. Early life Guthrie was born in Mauritius, the son of Frederick Guthrie, F.R.S. and ...
was an agricultural chemist.


References

1833 births 1886 deaths British physicists British chemists Presidents of the Physical Society Alumni of University College London University of Marburg alumni Academics of the University of Edinburgh Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery {{UK-physicist-stub