Maxwell Simpson (15 March 1815 – 26 February 1902) was an eminent Irish chemist.

Life

He was born in Beach Hill,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

, Ireland, son of Thomas Simpson. He attended Dr. Henderson's school at Newry before continuing to

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

in 1832. He graduated in 1837 and travelled on the continent. After attending a lecture in Paris by Dumas on chemistry he decided to study that subject, which he did at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

. In 1847 he became lecturer in chemistry at the Park Street Medical School (later Ledwich School of Medicine) in Dublin. Upon closure of that school he lectured at the Peter St. School of Medicine. He then took three years leave of absence in order to study in Germany, returned to Dublin in 1854, spent two further years in Paris and returned again in 1860. At this point he built a laboratory in his Dublin home in which he worked for the next seven years. During this early part of his life he had started making the discoveries that placed him in the first rank of chemists of his time. These included improvements in the determination of nitrogen in organic compounds, determination of the structure of polyhydric alcohols and the synthesis of Succinic and other acids from the corresponding cyanides. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in June 1862. In 1872 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at

Queen's College, Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1 ...

, a position he held until his retirement in 1892. He married Mary Martin, daughter of Samuel Martin of Loughorne, County Down. He died in London in 1902 and was buried at Fulham cemetery.

References

* 1815 births 1902 deaths Scientists from County Armagh 19th-century Irish chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of University College London {{Ireland-scientist-stub