John Frederic Daniell
FRS (12 March 1790 – 13 March 1845) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
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 th ...
and
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
.
Biography
Daniell was born 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 ...
. In 1831 he became the first professor of chemistry at the newly founded
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 ...
; and in 1835 he was appointed to the equivalent post at the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
's
Military Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey.
His name is best known for his invention of the
Daniell cell
The Daniell cell is a type of electrochemical cell invented in 1836 by John Frederic Daniell, a British chemist and meteorologist, and consists of a copper pot filled with a copper (II) sulfate solution, in which is immersed an unglazed earthenw ...
, an element of an
electric battery
An electric battery is a source of electric power consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections for powering electrical devices.
When a battery is supplying power, its positive terminal is the cathode and its negati ...
much better than
voltaic cell
A galvanic cell or voltaic cell, named after the scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, respectively, is an electrochemical cell in which an electric current is generated from spontaneous Oxidation-Reduction reactions. A common apparatus g ...
s. He also invented the dew-point
hygrometer
A hair tension dial hygrometer with a nonlinear scale.
A hygrometer is an instrument used to measure the amount of water vapor in air, in soil, or in confined spaces. Humidity measurement instruments usually rely on measurements of some other qu ...
known by his name, and a register
pyrometer
A pyrometer is a type of remote-sensing thermometer used to measure the temperature of distant objects. Various forms of pyrometers have historically existed. In the modern usage, it is a device that from a distance determines the temperature of ...
; and in 1830 he erected in the hall of the
Royal Society
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 ...
a water-
barometer
A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...
, with which he carried out a large number of observations.
[''Philosophical Transactions'', 1832.] A process devised by him for the manufacture of illuminating gas from turpentine and resin was in use in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for a time.
In 1842 he was awarded an honorary
Doctorate of Civil Law
Doctor of Civil Law (DCL; la, Legis Civilis Doctor or Juris Civilis Doctor) is a degree offered by some universities, such as the University of Oxford, instead of the more common Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees.
At Oxford, the degree is a higher ...
by the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
.
Publications
Daniell's publications included ''Meteorological Essays'' (1823), an ''Essay on Artificial Climate considered in its Applications to Horticulture'' (1824), which showed the necessity of a humid atmosphere in hothouses devoted to tropical plants, and an ''Introduction to the Study of Chemical Philosophy'' (1839).
Lectures
In 1840 he was invited to deliver the
Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on ''The First Principles of Franklinic Electricity''.
Death and commemoration
Daniell died suddenly of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
in London in March 1845, while attending a meeting of the council of the Royal Society, of which he had become a fellow in 1813 and Foreign Secretary in 1839.
The
lunar crater
Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated.
History
The wor ...
Daniell is named after him.
See also
*
Timeline of hydrogen technologies
This is a timeline of the history of hydrogen technology.
Timeline
16th century
* c. 1520 – First recorded observation of hydrogen by Paracelsus through dissolution of metals (iron, zinc, and tin) in sulfuric acid.
17th century
* 1625 – Fi ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniell, John Frederic
1790 births
1845 deaths
English physicists
English inventors
English chemists
Academics of King's College London
Fellows of the Royal Society
People of the Industrial Revolution
Recipients of the Copley Medal
Royal Medal winners
Battery inventors
People associated with electricity
Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge