Francis Preston Venable (November 17, 1856 – March 17, 1934) was a chemist, educator, and president of the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

(UNC).

Biography

Born “near Farmville", Prince Edward County, Virginia The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. XIII. New York James T. White & Co. 1906. Page 245. to

Charles Scott Venable Charles Scott Venable (March 19, 1827 – August 11, 1900) was a mathematician, astronomer, and military officer. In mathematics, he is noted for authoring a series of publications as a University of Virginia professor. Early life He was b ...

, aide-de-camp to Gen. Robert E. Lee from 1862 to 1865 and professor of mathematics at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

from 1865 to 1896, and Margaret Cantey (McDowell) Venable. In 1879, Venable earned a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia. He was offered the chair in the chemistry department at UNC in 1880. A year later, he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, and was elected fellow of the Chemical Society of London. In 1893, Venable occupied the first endowed chair at UNC, the Mary Ann Smith Professorship. In collaboration with undergraduate students William Rand Kenan, Jr, and Thomas Clarke and former student John Motley Morehead III, he identified

calcium carbide Calcium carbide, also known as calcium acetylide, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of Ca C2. Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide. The pure material is colorless, while pieces of te ...

, a discovery of great commercial importance that led to the development of acetylene and the founding of

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

. In 1899, he was elected vice president of the chemistry section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Venable served as president of UNC from 1900 to 1914. He took a one-year leave of absence due to illness in 1914, during which time Edward Kidder Graham served as acting president. In 1905, he was elected president of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

, and he served as president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Venable resigned as president of UNC in 1914, was appointed Kenan Professor in 1918, and retired from teaching in 1930. Venable was married to Sallie Charlton Manning in 1884, with whom he had 5 children. He died from pneumonia in Richmond, Virginia on March 17, 1934, and was buried in the

Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Old Chapel Hill Cemetery is a graveyard and national historic district located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. History The land was a land grant to the University of North Carolina ...

Published works

*''A Course in Qualitative Chemical Analysis'' (1883) *''A Short History of Chemistry'' (1894) *''The Development of the Periodic Law'' (1896) *''Inorganic Chemistry'' (1898) *''A Brief Account of Radio-Activity'' (1917) *''Zirconium and Its Compounds'' (1922)

References

External links

* * 1856 births 1934 deaths 20th-century American chemists University of Virginia alumni Leaders of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Presidents of the American Chemical Society 19th-century American chemists {{US-academic-administrator-stub