William Odling, FRS (5 September 1829 in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– 17 February 1921 in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

) was an English

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 t ...

who contributed to the development of the

periodic table The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of ch ...

. In the 1860s Odling, like many chemists, was working towards classifying the elements, an effort that would eventually lead to the

periodic table of elements The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the (chemical) elements, is a rows and columns arrangement of the chemical elements. It is widely used in chemistry, physics, and other sciences, and is generally seen as an icon of ch ...

. He was intrigued by atomic weights and the periodic occurrence of chemical properties. William Odling and

Lothar Meyer Julius Lothar Meyer (19 August 1830 – 11 April 1895) was a German chemist. He was one of the pioneers in developing the earliest versions of the periodic table of the chemical elements. Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (his chief rival) and ...

drew up tables similar, but with improvements on, Dmitri Mendeleev's original table. Odling drew up a table of elements using repeating units of seven elements, which bears a striking resemblance to Mendeleev's first table. The groups are horizontal, the elements are in order of increasing

atomic weight Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A''; sometimes abbreviated RAM or r.a.m.), also known by the deprecated synonym atomic weight, is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a giv ...

and there are vacant slots for undiscovered ones. In addition, Odling overcame the tellurium-iodine problem and he even managed to get thallium, lead, mercury and platinum in the right groups - something that Mendeleev failed to do at his first attempt. Odling failed to achieve recognition, however, since it is suspected that he, as Secretary of the

Chemical Society of London The Chemical Society was a scientific society formed in 1841 (then named the Chemical Society of London) by 77 scientists as a result of increased interest in scientific matters. Chemist Robert Warington was the driving force behind its creation. ...

, was instrumental in discrediting John Alexander Reina Newlands' efforts at getting his own periodic table published. One such unrecognised aspect was for the suggestion he, Odling, made in a lecture he gave at the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, in ...

in 1855 entitled ''The Constitution of Hydrocarbons'' in which he proposed a

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on ...

type for carbon (Proceedings of the Royal Institution, 1855, vol 2, p. 63-66).

August Kekulé Friedrich August Kekulé, later Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz ( , ; 7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896), was a German organic chemist. From the 1850s until his death, Kekulé was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially ...

made a similar suggestion in 1857, then in a subsequent paper later that same year proposed that carbon is a tetravalent element.

Career

Odling became a Chemistry Lecturer at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School and a Demonstrator at

Guy's Hospital Medical School GKT School of Medical Education (abbreviated: GKT) is the medical school of King's College London. The school has campuses at three institutions, Guy's Hospital (Southwark), King's College Hospital (Denmark Hill) and St Thomas' Hospital (Lambet ...

in 1850. Leaving St Bartholomew's in 1868 he became a Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the

where in 1868 and 1870 he was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on ''The Chemical Changes of Carbon'' and ''Burning and Unburning'' respectively. In 1872 he left the Royal Institution and became Waynflete Professor of Chemistry and a fellow of

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms ...

, where he stayed still his retirement in 1912. Odling also served as a fellow (1848–1856), Honorary Secretary (1856–1869), Vice-President (1869–1872) and President (1873–1875) of the

as well as a Censor (1878–1880 and 1882–1891), Vice-President (1878–1880 and 1888–1891) and President (1883–1888) of the

Institute of Chemistry The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its aim ...

. In 1859 he was made a fellow of the

Royal Society of London 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, r ...

and in 1875 he was granted an honorary PhD by

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of L ...

, the Netherlands.

References

Fullerian Professorships
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odling, William 1829 births 1921 deaths People from Southwark 19th-century British chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford Waynflete Professors of Chemistry People involved with the periodic table 20th-century British chemists

Career

See also

References