John Thomas Cooper (1790–1854) was an English chemist notable as a lecturer, chemical supplier and chemical analyst, at a time when interest was burgeoning in chemistry as a discipline of study and application.

Biography

Cooper was born in Greenwich and studied and for a short while practised medicine. Finding the life of general practitioner stressful and tiring, he turned instead to chemistry, to which he applied himself with zeal. Until 1842 he lectured in chemistry at a number of establishments, including the

Russell Institution The Russell Institution (fuller titles: Russell Institution for the Promotion of Literary and Scientific Knowledge, and the Russell Literary and Scientific Institution) was an organisation devoted to scientific, literary and musical education, base ...

, the

Aldersgate School of Medicine The Aldersgate Medical School was a medical school in east London, in existence from about 1825 to 1848. One of many private medical schools of the period, it had popular lecturers on its staff, and proved a serious rival to St. Bartholomew's Hospi ...

, and the

Webb Street School of Anatomy and Medicine Webb most often refers to James Webb Space Telescope which is named after James E. Webb, second Administrator of NASA. It may also refer to: Places Antarctica *Webb Glacier (South Georgia) *Webb Glacier (Victoria Land) * Webb Névé, Victoria ...

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. Cooper acted as a manufacturer and supplier of chemicals - "at one time the sole supplier of iodine in Britain" according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He devised or collaborated to produce a number of tools and techniques for which he won repute, including a

hydrometer A hydrometer or lactometer is an instrument used for measuring density or relative density of liquids based on the concept of buoyancy. They are typically calibrated and graduated with one or more scales such as specific gravity. A hydrometer ...

, an oxy-hydrogen microscope (the gasses providing a bright light-source), a baroscope, a refractometer; improvements in

electroplating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct electric current. The part to be ...

, electric cell design, and microscope mountings. He was employed as a chemical analyst and appeared at court as an expert witness on a number of occasions. He provided expert services to a Royal Society and Board of Longitude initiative to improve the optical qualities of glass; and testimonials of the purity of a new line of brandy to its manufacturers for use in its advertising. He discovered iodoform but did not publish, that honour falling to Georges-Simon Serullas. Cooper was vice-president of the London Chemical Society during its short incarnation. One of Cooper's students, Robert Warington founded the Chemical Society of London, and Cooper was an "energetic early Fellow". Cooper's name and excellent reputation is not entirely free from controversy, however. He is implicated in the support of a patent for the use of hyposulphite of soda to fix

daguerreotype Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

images, despite clear indications that he was aware of prior art demonstrated and published by Sir

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, John Thomas 1790 births 1854 deaths 19th-century British chemists People from Greenwich