William Prout
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William Prout FRS (; 15 January 1785 – 9 April 1850) 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 ...
, physician, and natural theologian. He is remembered today mainly for what is called
Prout's hypothesis Prout's hypothesis was an early 19th-century attempt to explain the existence of the various chemical elements through a hypothesis regarding the internal structure of the atom. In 1815 and 1816, the English chemist William Prout published two p ...
.


Biography

Prout was born in
Horton, Gloucestershire Horton is a village on the Cotswold Edge, in Gloucestershire, England. It is about north of Chipping Sodbury. The nearest settlement is Little Sodbury, about away; Hawkesbury Upton and Dunkirk are both miles away. It is a linear settlement ...
in 1785 and educated at 17 years of age by a clergyman, followed by the Redland Academy at Bristol and
Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
, where he graduated in 1811 with an MD. His professional life was spent as a practising physician in London, but he also occupied himself with chemical research. He was an active worker in biological chemistry and carried out many analyses of the secretions of living
organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...
s, which he believed were produced by the breakdown of bodily tissues. In 1823, he discovered that
stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The stomach has a dilated structure and functions as a vital organ in the digestive system. The stomach i ...
juices contain
hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid Acid strength is the tendency of an acid, symbol ...
, which can be separated from gastric juice by
distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...
. In 1827, he proposed the classification of substances in food into sugars and starches, oily bodies, and albumen, which would later become known as
carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...
s, fats, and
protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
s. Prout is better remembered, however, for his researches into
physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistica ...
. In 1815, based on the tables of
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 ...
s available at the time, he anonymously hypothesized that the atomic weight of every element is an
integer An integer is the number zero (), a positive natural number (, , , etc.) or a negative integer with a minus sign ( −1, −2, −3, etc.). The negative numbers are the additive inverses of the corresponding positive numbers. In the languag ...
multiple of that of
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-toxic ...
, suggesting that the hydrogen
atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, ...
is the only truly fundamental particle (which he called protyle), and that the atoms of the other elements are made of groupings of various numbers of hydrogen atoms. While
Prout's hypothesis Prout's hypothesis was an early 19th-century attempt to explain the existence of the various chemical elements through a hypothesis regarding the internal structure of the atom. In 1815 and 1816, the English chemist William Prout published two p ...
was not borne out by later more-accurate measurements of atomic weights, it was a sufficiently fundamental insight into the structure of the atom that in 1920,
Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...
chose the name of the newly discovered proton to, among other reasons, give credit to Prout. Prout contributed to the improvement of the
barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...
, and 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, re ...
adopted his design as a national standard. 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 knowledge, including mathemat ...
in 1819. He delivered the
Goulstonian Lecture The Goulstonian Lectures are an annual lecture series given on behalf of the Royal College of Physicians in London. They began in 1639. The lectures are named for Theodore Goulston (or Gulston, died 1632), who founded them with a bequest A bequ ...
to the
Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...
in 1831 on the application of chemistry to medicine. Prout wrote the eighth ''
Bridgewater Treatise The Bridgewater Treatises (1833–36) are a series of eight works that were written by leading scientific figures appointed by the President of the Royal Society in fulfilment of a bequest of £8000, made by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridg ...
'', ''Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, considered with reference to Natural Theology''. It was in this work that he coined the term "convection" to describe a type of energy transfer. In 1814, Prout married Agnes Adam, daughter of
Alexander Adam Alexander Adam (24 June 174118 December 1809) was a Scottish teacher and writer on Roman antiquities. Life Alexander Adam was born near Forres, in Moray, the son of a farmer. From his earliest years he showed uncommon diligence and persevera ...
, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and together they had six children. Prout died in London in 1850 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. The " Prout" is a unit of nuclear
binding energy In physics and chemistry, binding energy is the smallest amount of energy required to remove a particle from a system of particles or to disassemble a system of particles into individual parts. In the former meaning the term is predominantly use ...
, and is 1/12 the binding energy of the deuteron, or 185.5
keV Kev can refer to: Given name * Kev Adams, French comedian, actor, screenwriter and film producer born Kevin Smadja in 1991 * Kevin Kev Carmody (born 1946), Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter * Kev Coghlan (born 1988), Scottish Grand Prix moto ...
. It is named after William Prout. "Proutons" was an early candidate for the name of what are now called protons.


Honours and awards

*
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 knowledge, including mathemat ...
(1819) * Copley Medal (1827) * Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (1829)


Bibliography

* * * * Prout, William (1834).
Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion Considered with Reference to Natural Theology
'; Bridgewater Treatises, W. Pickering (reissued by
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, 2009; ) * *


See also

*
Earl of Bridgewater Earl of Bridgewater was a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, once for the Daubeny family (1538) and once for the Egerton family (1617). From 1720 to 1803, the Earls of Bridgewater also held the title of Duke of Bridgewat ...
(for other ''Bridgewater Treatises'') *
Atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...


Notes


References

*


Further reading

* * * * * * * * *
The Semiempirical Formula for Atomic Masses
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prout, William 1785 births 1850 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from South Gloucestershire District English physical chemists 19th-century English medical doctors Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Recipients of the Copley Medal 18th-century English people Authors of the Bridgewater Treatises