Dr Leonard Dobbin

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 ...

(30 July 1858 – 3 March 1952) was a chemist and author on the history of chemistry and several chemistry textbooks. He was known as a modest and lovable man.

Life

He was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

on 30 July 1858. He studied at

Queen's College, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

and then the College of Science 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 ...

before undertaking postgraduate study at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

in central

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

where he gained his doctorate (PhD). He then 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 ...

to work as Professor Alexander Crum Brown's assistant. In 1894 he became a lecturer, and in 1924 was promoted to Reader. In 1881 he 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 proposers were

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildings complex is named after him. Early life and education Crum Brown was born at 4 Bellev ...

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook '' Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he co-wrote wi ...

, Robert Milner Robertson, and

Sir William Turner Sir William Turner (7 January 1832, in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster – 15 February 1916, in Edinburgh) was an English anatomist and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1903 to 1916. Life Turner was born in Lancaster ...

. With over 70 years as a Fellow he was one of the longest-serving Fellows of all time. He served as vice-president to the Society 1939 to 1942, standing down at the age of 83. He was also Secretary to The Alembic Club. He translated

Albert Ladenburg Albert Ladenburg (July 2, 1842August 15, 1911) was a German chemist. Early life and education Ladenburg was a member of the well-known Jewish in Mannheim. He was educated at a Realgymnasium at Mannheim and then, after the age of 15, at the tec ...

’s Lectures on the Development of the History of Chemistry since the time of Lavoisier into English in 1900. In later life he lived at 6 Wilton Road in south

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, close to the university's science facilities at Kings Buildings.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1911-12 He died in

on 3 March 1952, aged 93.

Publications

* ''Lectures on the Development of the History of Chemistry since the time of Lavoisier'' (1900) * ''Salts and their Reactions'' (1904) * ''Medico-Physical Works'' (1907) with Crum Brown * ''The collected Papers of

Carl Wilhelm Scheele Carl Wilhelm Scheele (, ; 9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a Swedish German pharmaceutical chemist. Scheele discovered oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified molybdenum, tungsten, barium, hydrog ...

'' (1931) * ''A Cullen Chemical Manuscript of 1753'' (1936) * ''The History of the Discovery of Phosgene'' (1945)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbin, Leonard 1858 births 1952 deaths 19th-century British chemists 19th-century British writers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scientists from Belfast