Cornelius O'Sullivan, FRS (20 December 1841 – 8 January 1907) was an Irish brewer's chemist. He was born the son of merchant James O'Sullivan of

Bandon, County Cork Bandon (; ) is a town in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on the River Bandon between two hills. The name in Irish means 'Bridge of the Bandon', a reference to the origin of the town as a crossing point on the river. In 2004 Ba ...

and was educated locally, before winning a scholarship to study chemistry at the Royal School of Mines, London. After completing the three-year course he joined the

Royal College of Chemistry file:The Royal College of Chemistry; the laboratories. Lithograph Wellcome V0013588.jpg, The Royal College of Chemistry: the laboratories. Lithograph The Royal College of Chemistry (RCC) was a college originally based on Oxford Street in central Lo ...

as a student assistant to Professor August Wilhelm von Hofmann. When Hofman returned to Germany in 1865 to become Professor of Chemistry in Berlin he took O'Sullivan with him as his assistant. The following year Hofman's influence had secured O'Sullivan the post of assistant brewer and chemist to Messrs. Bass & Co. at

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, a major centre for English brewing. At Bass he applied his chemical knowledge and aptitude for original research to the scientific and practical issues of brewing and ultimately became head of the scientific and analytical staff of the company, a post he held for the rest of his career. His researches were communicated via a series of papers to the Chemical Society. They included ''On the Transformation Products of Starch'' (1872 and 1879); ''On Maltose'' (1876); ''On the Action of Malt Extract on Starch'' (1876); ''Presence of Raffinose in Barley'' (1886); ''Researches on the Gums of the Arabin Group'' (1884 and 1891); ''Invertase: a Contribution to the History of an Enzyme'' (with F. W. Tompson, 1890) and ''The Identity of Dextrose from Different Sources, with Special Reference to the Cupric Oxide Reducing Power'' (with A. L. Stern, 1896). He was elected a fellow of the

Chemical Society 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. ...

in 1876, serving on the council from 1882 to 1885, and was awarded the Society's Longstaff Medal in 1884 for his researches on the chemistry of the carbohydrates. In 1885 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, his nomination citation describing him as ''Distinguished as a chemist, especially for his researches on the Carbohydrates, which have thrown entirely new light on the constitution of this class of bodies and which are therefore of high importance in connexion with the chemistry of vital processes''. He was an original member of the Institute of Chemistry, the

Society of Chemical Industry The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 "to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit". Offices The society's headquarters is in Belgrave Square, London. There are semi-in ...

and the Institute of Brewing and served on the council of each. He died at home in Burton-on-Trent in 1907 and was buried near Bandon. He had married in 1871 Edithe, the daughter of Joseph Nadin of Barrow Hall, near Derby, and had three sons (one of whom died in early youth) and one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OSullivan, Cornelius 1841 births 1907 deaths People from Bandon, County Cork 19th-century Irish chemists Fellows of the Royal Society Scientists from County Cork