Prof Thomas Slater Price
FRS FRSE FCS OBE (1875–1949) was a 20th-century British chemist.
Biography
Price was born on 24 August 1875 in
Wednesbury
Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of 3 ...
, the second of nine children of Thomas Price, a teacher, and Mary Anne (née Slater). His early education was at the Wesleyan school at which his father was headmaster. From age 12 he attended
King Edward's School in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, from where he gained a place at
Mason College
Mason Science College was a university college in Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of Birmingham University. Founded in 1875 by industrialist and philanthropist Sir Josiah Mason, the college was incorporated into the University ...
. He graduated as BSc from the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
in 1895, with first class honours in chemistry and physics.
After graduation he undertook research at Mason College, supervised by
P F Frankland. He then worked in Leipzig with
Wilhelm Ostwald
Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald (; 4 April 1932) was a Baltic German chemist and philosopher. Ostwald is credited with being one of the founders of the field of physical chemistry, with Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Walther Nernst, and Svante Arrhen ...
and was awarded his PhD
summa cum laude. In 1898 he continued his work in the laboratory of
Svante Arrhenius
Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received the Nob ...
in
Stockholm.
He returned to Mason College in 1898 and finished his Stockholm research, for which he was awarded a University of London DSc. After a year at Sheffield, Price moved to the
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
, as senior lecturer in chemistry. In 1903, aged 28, he was appointed head of the chemistry department at the
Birmingham Central Technical College.
In 1916 Price took up secret war work at the Royal Naval Experimental Station in Stratford, with the rank of Lieutenant in the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Later the number and scope of the researches expanded and he was promoted Lieutenant-Commander, in charge of them all. One of the important projects was the design and filling of special apparatus for the formation of smoke screens at sea, used with great success in the
raid on Zeebrugge. Price was awarded a military OBE in 1919.
In September 1920 Price was appointed director of research at The British Photographic Association, which had been formed two years earlier. He held this position for ten years. Many important papers came from its laboratories during the ten years he was in charge; the Association closed in 1930.
In 1931 Price was appointed chair of chemistry of
Heriot-Watt College
Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...
, a post he held until he retired in 1940. He suffered persistent ill-health for most of this time.
Price published 36 papers in the period 1897 to 1923. The
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
elected him to its Fellowship in 1924, and the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1932.
[
]
Family
Thomas Slater Price married Florence Beardmore, also born in Wednesbury, in 1904. They had three children: Leslie, Eileen and Florence Mary. Price died on 29 October 1949 at Ratho
Ratho ( gd, Ràthach) is a village in the Rural West Edinburgh area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,634 based on the 2010 definition of the locality. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian. Ratho Stati ...
, near Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, a little over a year after his wife had died. He was cremated on 2 November. Florence was buried at Wood Green Cemetery, Wednesbury, with her parents and brother.
Other appointments
Books
*''Theories of Chemistry''
*''A Course of Practical Organic Chemistry'' (1907)
*''Peracid
A peroxy acid (often spelled as one word, peroxyacid, and sometimes called peracid) is an acid which contains an acidic –OOH group. The two main classes are those derived from conventional mineral acids, especially sulfuric acid, and the peroxy ...
s and Their Salts'' (1912)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Thomas Slater
1875 births
1949 deaths
People from Wednesbury
People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham
British chemists
Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Chemical Society