Edith Hilda, Lady Ingold (21 May 1898 – 1988) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

based in Leeds and London. As the wife of

Christopher Kelk Ingold Sir Christopher Kelk Ingold (28 October 1893 – 8 December 1970) was a British chemist based in Leeds and London. His groundbreaking work in the 1920s and 1930s on reaction mechanisms and the electronic structure of organic compounds was resp ...

her career was somewhat overshadowed by his work and she failed to gain much public recognition, despite being an innovative chemist and partner to her husband in his work on inorganic chemistry. She was known as Lady Ingold following her husband's knighthood.

Early life

Hilda Ingold was born into a working-class family in Catford (south-east London).

Education

Ingold attended a girls' grammar school in Lewisham, and then had two years of private education in Horsham. She then moved to the

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...

after being awarded a Clothworker's Scholarship. As an undergraduate at

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

Ingold attained a BSc Hons in Chemistry (1916-1920) before completing her doctorate in 1923 at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. As the doctoral degree was only introduced to British Universities in 1917 she was one of the earliest students to qualify. Her PhD project was on

tautomer Tautomers () are structural isomers (constitutional isomers) of chemical compounds that readily interconvert. The chemical reaction interconverting the two is called tautomerization. This conversion commonly results from the relocation of a hyd ...

s, isomers of molecules which differ only in the position of a labile hydrogen atom. Her doctoral supervisor was

Martha Whiteley Martha Annie Whiteley, (11 November 1866 – 24 May 1956) was an English chemist and mathematician. She was instrumental in advocating for women's entry into the Chemical Society, and was best known for her dedication to advancing women's ...

. Her subsidiary subject was physics and this led to her research in

physical organic chemistry Physical organic chemistry, a term coined by Louis Hammett in 1940, refers to a discipline of organic chemistry that focuses on the relationship between chemical structures and reactivity, in particular, applying experimental tools of physical c ...

and

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...

. Following completion of her PhD she went on to complete a

DSc DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

. She was also the president of the UCL Chemical and Physical society during the 1976-1977 academic year, one of the oldest and most prestigious societies at the university.

Personal life

She married fellow Chemistry student

in 1923 and went on to have three children. They had two daughters and a son, the chemist

Keith Ingold Keith Usherwood Ingold, (born 31 May 1929) is a British chemist. He was born to Sir Christopher Ingold and Dr. Hilda Usherwood, and studied for a BSc in Chemistry at the University of London, completing his degree in 1949. He continued his h ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingold, Hilda English women chemists English chemists People educated at North London Collegiate School 1898 births 1988 deaths People from Catford Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of Imperial College London