Sir Herbert Jackson KBE, FRS (1863–1936) was a British chemist. He was knighted for his work on heat-resisting and optical

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

es for military use in the

First World War 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 ...

. Jackson was born in

Hampstead, London Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of ...

, on 17 March 1863. He studied at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

from 1879, becoming Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1905. In 1914 he became Daniell Professor of Chemistry. During the War he worked for the

Optical Munitions and Glassware Department Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

(OMGD) of the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis of ...

. In 1918 he resigned his Professorship to become the Director of Research of the British Scientific Instrument Research Association. He died on 10 December 1936 and is buried at the parish church of Hampstead.Sir Herbert Jackson (1863 - 1936)
, ''Tomb With a View'', accessed 2014-06-30

Research

In 1896, a year after Röntgen's discovery of

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...

, Jackson demonstrated to the Royal Society an

X-ray tube An X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that converts electrical input power into X-rays. The availability of this controllable source of X-rays created the field of radiography, the imaging of partly opaque objects with penetrating radiation. In contrast ...

that became the model for all gas-type X-ray tubes. In 1907 he presented to the Royal Society of Arts his research on detergents and bleaching agents used in the laundry industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Herbert 1863 births 1936 deaths Alumni of King's College London British chemists Fellows of the Royal Society