Thomas Robert Bolam

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 ...

MM (1893–1969) was a 20th century British chemist.

Life

He was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

on 7 September 1893. He was educated at the Fairfield Higher Grade school and the

Merchant Venturers The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol. The society can be traced back to a 13th-century guild which funded the voyage of John Cabot to Canada. In 1552, it gained a monopoly on sea trading ...

School in Bristol. He graduated BSc from Bristol University in 1914 and then at the start of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he joined the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

and served in France and Flanders winning the

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

. Returning to Bristol he gained an MSc in 1920 and began lecturing at 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 ...

. He received a doctorate (DSc) from the University in 1930. In 1933 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 Sir James Walker,

James Pickering Kendall James Pickering Kendall FRS FRSE (30 July 1889, in Chobham, Surrey – 14 June 1978, in Edinburgh) was a British chemist. Life Kendall was born in Chobham, Surrey to soldier William Henry Kendall of the Royal Horse Artillery, and his second w ...

, Ernest Bowman Ludlam and

Leonard Dobbin Leonard Dobbin (29 September 1762 – 19 February 1844) was an Irish Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1837. He was the eldest son of Leonard Dobbin senior, of Mount Dobbin, Tirnascobe, County Armagh and Mary Oates ...

. He served as Vice President of the Society 1959 to 1962. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served as an Air Raid Warden in Edinburgh. He died in Edinburgh on 8 July 1969.

Publications

*''The Donnan Equilibrium'' (1932)

Family

In 1926 he married Mary Russell Mackenzie (d.1954). They had no children.

References

1893 births 1969 deaths Scientists from Bristol Alumni of the University of Bristol British chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{England-scientist-stub