Sir Robert John Kane (24 September 1809 – 16 February 1890) was an Irish

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

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Early life

Kane was born at 48 Henry Street, Dublin on 24 September 1809 to John and Eleanor Kean (née Troy). His father was involved in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

and fled for a time to France where he studied chemistry. Back in Dublin, Kean (now Kane) founded the Kane Company and manufactured

sulphuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular for ...

. The young Kane studied chemistry at his father's factory, and attended lectures at the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...

as a teenager. He published his first paper in 1828, ''Observations on the existence of chlorine in the native peroxide of manganese'', in the London Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and Art. The following year, his description of the natural arsenide of manganese resulted in the compound being named Kaneite in his honour. He studied medicine at

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 ...

, graduating in 1834 whilst working in the Meath Hospital. He was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the Apothecaries' Hall, Dublin in 1831, which earned him the moniker of the "boy professor". In the following year he participated in the founding of the

Dublin Journal of Medical Science The ''Irish Journal of Medical Science'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed medical journal that was established in 1832 by Robert Kane as the ''Dublin Journal of Medical & Chemical Science''. Besides Kane, it had distinguished editors like Robert James ...

Academic life

Chemistry

On the strength of his book ''Elements of Practical Pharmacy'' he was elected to the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural ...

in 1832. He studied

acid In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a se ...

s, showed that

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-to ...

was

electropositive Electronegativity, symbolized as , is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the ...

, and proposed the existence of the ethyl

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

. In 1836 he travelled to

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

in Germany to study

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J ...

with

Justus von Liebig Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at th ...

. In 1843 he was awarded the

Cunningham Medal The Cunningham Medal is the premier award of the Royal Irish Academy. It is awarded every three years in recognition of "outstanding contributions to scholarship and the objectives of the Academy". History It was which was established in 1796 at ...

for his work on the nature and constitution of compounds of Ammonia. He published a three-volume ''Elements of Chemistry'' in 1841–1844, and a detailed report on the ''Industrial Resources of Ireland''. This included the first assessment of the water power potential of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Sha ...

, which was not realised until the 1920s at

Ardnacrusha Ardnacrusha ( ga, Ard na Croise) is a village in County Clare, Munster, Ireland, located on the northern bank of the River Shannon. By road, it is north of Limerick. The name derives from the phrase ''Ard na Croise'' meaning "the height of th ...

Great Famine of Ireland

He became a political adviser on scientific and industrial matters. He served on several commissions to enquire into the Great Famine of Ireland along with Professors Lindley and Taylor, all more or less ineffective. His political and administrative work meant that his contribution to chemistry ceased after about 1844.

Educational work

His work on Irish industry led to his being appointed director of the Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin in 1845. The Museum was a successor to the Museum of Economic Geology, and was housed at 51 St Stephen's Green. Also in 1845 he became the first President of Queen's College, Cork (now

University 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. The university was founded in 1845 as one o ...

). He did not spend a lot of time in Cork as he had work in Dublin, and his wife lived there. The science building on the campus of this college (now University College Cork) is named in honour of Kane. He was knighted in 1846. In 1873, Kane took up the post of National Commissioner for Education. He was elected president of the Royal Irish Academy in 1877, holding the role until 1882. In 1880 he was appointed the first chancellor of the newly created

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was founded in accordance with the ''University Education (Ireland) Act 1879'' as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the University of London. A Royal Charter was issued on 27 Apri ...

. After a motion to admit women to the University, put forward by Prof. Samuel Haughton at Academic Council in Trinity College Dublin, 10 March 1880, Kane was appointed to a committee of 10 men to look into the matter. He was opposed to the admission of women, and nothing was reported from the committee in the Council minutes for the next 10 years (Parkes, 2004).

Family

Kane married Katherine Sophia Baily on 23 August 1838, with whom he had seven surviving children. Kane's eldest son Robert Romney Kane was known as a barrister. The second son,

Henry Coey Kane Admiral Sir Henry Coey Kane (3 December 1843 – 30 January 1917) was a Royal Navy officer. He was the second son of Sir Robert Kane, the Irish chemist, and entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1853 having been educated at St. Vincent's Colleg ...

, became an admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Bibliography

*Kane, R.J. (1831) ''Elements of Practical Pharmacy'', Dublin : Hodges & Smith *Kane, R.J. (1849) ''Elements of chemistry, theoretical and practical : including the most recent discoveries and applications of the science to medicine and pharmacy, to agriculture, and to manufactures'', 2nd ed., Dublin : Hodges and Smith, 1069 p. *Kane, R. 8441971) ''Industrial Resources of Ireland'', The Development of industrial society series, Shannon, Ireland : Irish University Press, *Parkes, S. M. (ed) (2004) A Danger to the Men? A History of Women in Trinity College Dublin, 1904-2004. Lilliput Press, Dublin.