Sir William Cecil Dampier FRS (born William Cecil Dampier Whetham) (27 December 1867 – 11 December 1952) was a British

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

agriculturist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...

, and

science historian The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history that examines the understanding of the natural world (science) and the ability to manipulate it (technology) at different points in time. This academic discipline also studies the c ...

who developed a method of extracting

lactose Lactose is a disaccharide sugar synthesized by galactose and glucose subunits and has the molecular formula C12H22O11. Lactose makes up around 2–8% of milk (by mass). The name comes from ' (gen. '), the Latin word for milk, plus the suffix '' - ...

(milk sugar) from

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard ...

. He was born in London, the son of Charles Langley and Mary (née Dampier) Whetham and the grandson of Sir Charles Whetham, a former

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

. In 1886, he entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

and in 1889 commenced his varied researches in the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

. In 1891 was elected a Fellow of Trinity. In June 1901 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 ...

. His candidacy citation read: ''"Lecturer in Physics. Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Dampier was author of the following scientific papers, &c: - 'On the Alleged Slipping at the Boundary of a Liquid in Motion'; 'Note on Kohlrausch's Theory of Ionic Velocity'; 'Ionic Velocities'; 'On the velocity of the Hydrogen Ion through Solutions of Acetates'; 'On the Velocities of the Ions and the Relative Ionization Powers of Solvents'; 'The Velocity of the Ions'; 'The Ionizing Power of Solvents'; 'Report to the British Association on the Present State of our Knowledge in Electrolysis and Electro-Chemistry'; 'The Theory of the Migration of the ions and of Specific Ionic Velocities'; 'The Coagulative Power of Electrolytes'; 'The Ionization of Dilute Solutions at the Freezing Point' (a paper read before the Royal Society); an elementary text book on 'Solution and Electrolysis'; Letters and Articles in 'Nature' and 'Science Progress.'"'' In 1904 he published the first of his broader works on science and its history, ''The Recent Development of Physical Science''. This was followed in 1929 by his frequently reprinted and translated ''A History of Science, and its Relations with Philosophy and Religion''.''A Shorter History of Science.'' 1944,1945. From 1931 to 1935 he served as the first secretary of the

Agricultural Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor, ...

. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1931 for public service to agriculture.

Family

On 10 December 1897, Dampier married Catherine Durning Holt, a daughter of

Robert Durning Holt Robert Durning Holt (11 October 1832 in Liverpool – 10 December 1908) was an English cotton-broker and local politician. He was Mayor of Liverpool and the first Lord Mayor of Liverpool (1892–1893). Holt was the youngest of five sons o ...

, of a Liverpool shipowning family. They had one son and four daughters, including

Edith Holt Whetham Edith Holt Whetham (27 December 1911 – 28 January 2001) was an English lecturer and agricultural economist. Early life Edith Holt Whetham was born on 27 December 1911, the daughter of William Cecil Dampier Whetham, a Cambridge-educated scie ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dampier, William Cecil 1867 births 1952 deaths Scientists from London British physicists Fellows of the Royal Society Holt family