Edmund ("Ted") John Bowen FRS (29 April 1898 – 19 November 1980) was a British

physical chemist 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, statistical me ...

Life

Born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, England, E. J. Bowen attended the

Royal Grammar School Worcester The Royal Grammar School Worcester (also known as RGS Worcester or RGSW) is an eleven-eighteen Mixed-sex education, mixed, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school and sixth form in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire ...

. He won the Brackenbury Scholarship in 1915 and 1916 to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

where he studied

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

. He returned to

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

after serving as

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1922, he became a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in Chemistry of

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

, succeeding R. B. Bourdillon, who was briefly Fellow in Chemistry at the College from 1919 to 1921, but who subsequently changed his field of interest from chemistry to medicine. Bowen also served as

Domestic Bursar A bursar (derived from " bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education ( ...

of University College and as Junior

Proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

of Oxford University in 1936. Created 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 ...

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

for his research into

fluorescence Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...

, he was awarded the

Davy Medal The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000). H ...

in 1963. He wrote a seminal book called ''The Chemical Aspects of Light''.
2nd edition
1946.) He was Vice-President of the

Faraday Society The Faraday Society was a British society for the study of physical chemistry, founded in 1903 and named in honour of Michael Faraday. In 1980, it merged with several similar organisations, including the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chem ...

and 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. ...

. Much of Bowen's research work was carried out at the

Balliol-Trinity Laboratories The Balliol-Trinity Laboratories in Oxford, England, was an early chemistry laboratory at the University of Oxford. The laboratory was located between Balliol College and Trinity College, hence the name. It was especially known for physical chem ...

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 ...

. He was an accomplished

glass blower Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

for his chemical apparatus and even produced artworks in glass. His 1966 Liversidge Lecture on Fluorescence was based on his life's research. After retirement in June 1965, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of University College on 6 October 1965. He was one of the longest serving Fellows of that college (43 years as an ordinary Fellow and a total of 59 years). There is a room in the college named after him. He was also a prominent Worcester Old Elizabethan serving on its Committee for many years and organising the

branch of that club. During May 1931, Bowen, then a University don, attended a series of three lectures given by

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

Rhodes House Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* on ...

in Oxford. After the second lecture on 16 May, he helped rescue the blackboard used by Einstein; Sir

Francis Wylie Sir Francis James Wylie (18 October 1865 – 29 October 1952) was a British university academic and administrator. He was the first Warden of Rhodes House at the University of Oxford, England. Francis Wylie was educated at St Edward's School, Ox ...

(Warden of Rhodes House) formally presented it to the

Museum of the History of Science The History of Science Museum in Broad Street, Oxford, England, holds a leading collection of scientific instruments from Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum building is also known as the Old Ashmolean Building to distinguish it from th ...

in Oxford where it remains on prominent display to this day. At around five generations back from Bowen on a chemistry genealogy tree one will find

Liebig Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at t ...

and at around fourteen generations back,

Werner Rolfinck Werner Rolfinck (15 November 1599 – 6 May 1673) was a German physician, scientist and botanist. He was a medical student in Leiden, Oxford, Paris, and Padua. Biography Rolfinck earned his master's degree at the University of Wittenberg under ...

. The line of supervisors can be traced directly back as far back as

Niccolò Leoniceno Niccolò Leoniceno (1428–1524) was an Italian physician and humanist. Biography Leoniceno was born in Lonigo, Veneto, the son of a doctor. He studied Greek in Vicenza under Ognibene da Lonigo (in Latin: ''Omnibonus Leonicenus'') (Lonigo, 141 ...

in the 15th century. As well as chemistry, Bowen also had an interest in

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

, especially around

Ringstead Bay __NOTOC__ Ringstead Bay, with the small village of Ringstead at the eastern end and the prominent headland of White Nothe at the western end, is located on the coast in Dorset, southern England. The area lies on the Jurassic Coast and is known ...

on the

Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was inscribed on the World Heritage List in mid-December ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

on the south coast of England. '' Perisphinctes boweni'', an

ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

from the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

period, is named after him. Bowen was involved with the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...

and produced a

scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...

of the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

, and

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, for the upper galleries in the museum. Bowen lived for most of his working life in Park Town and is buried in

Wolvercote Cemetery Wolvercote Cemetery is a cemetery in the parish of Wolvercote and district of Cutteslowe in Oxford, England. Its main entrance is on Banbury Road and it has a side entrance in Five Mile Drive. It has a funeral chapel, public toilets and a small a ...

, north of Oxford. Bowen was married to Edith née Moule and they had a

son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...

(also a chemist) and a daughter.

Dr Bowen's Room

Dr Bowen's Room, occupied by E. J. Bowen at University College and used by Emeritus Fellows, now occupied by Prof.

Ruth Chang Ruth Chang is the Professor and Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, a Professorial Fellow of University College, Oxford, and an American professor of philosophy. She is known for her research on the incommensurability of values a ...

, was named in his honour. Bowen's papers (1931–1980) are held by the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford.

Notable co-authors

* Sir

Cyril Norman Hinshelwood Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (19 June 1897 – 9 October 1967) was a British physical chemist and expert in chemical kinetics. His work in reaction mechanisms earned the 1956 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Education Born in London, his parents we ...

FRS *

Ronald George Wreyford Norrish Ronald George Wreyford Norrish FRS (9 November 1897 – 7 June 1978) was a British chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Norrish was born in Cambridge and was educated at The Perse School and Emm ...

FRS *

Nevil Vincent Sidgwick Nevil Vincent Sidgwick FRS (8 May 1873 – 15 March 1952) was an English theoretical chemist who made significant contributions to the theory of valency and chemical bonding. Biography Sidgwick was born in Park Town, Oxford, the elder of two ...

FRS * Sir

Harold Warris Thompson Sir Harold Warris Thompson, CBE, FRS (15 February 1908 – 31 December 1983) was an English physical chemist and spectroscopist, who also served as chairman of the Football Association. Early life and education Harold Thompson was born in Wombw ...

FRS

References

External links

Bowen, E. J. (Edmund John) 1898–1980: Papers, 1921–1980
at the

, Oxford.
E. J. Bowen publications
listed by

Microsoft Academic Microsoft Academic was a free internet-based academic search engines for academic publications and literature, developed by Microsoft Research, shut down in 2022. At the same time, OpenAlex launched and claimed to be a successor to Microsoft Aca ...

Oxford Physical Chemistry: Early days

E. J. Bowen
books,

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, ...

.
Edmund John Bowen
photograph by

Walter Stoneman Walter Ernest Stoneman (6 April 1876 – 14 May 1958) was an English portrait photographer who took many photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. Career as a photographer Stoneman was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 6 ...

(1954) in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Edmund John 1898 births 1980 deaths Burials at Wolvercote Cemetery Military personnel from Worcester, England 20th-century British chemists 20th-century British geologists Scientists from Worcester, England People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Royal Garrison Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War I English physical chemists Photochemists Fellows of University College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society

Life

Dr Bowen's Room

Notable co-authors

See also

References

External links