Pure intelligence : the life of William Hyde Wollaston /

Pure intelligence : the life of William Hyde Wollaston /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Usselman, Melvyn C., author.
Imprint:Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Description:xv, 413 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Series:Synthesis
Synthesis (University of Chicago. Press)
Subject:
Wollaston, William Hyde, -- 1766-1828.
Wollaston, William Hyde, -- 1766-1828.
Scientists -- England -- Biography.
Scientists.
England.
Biography
Format: Print Book
Local Note:University of Chicago Library's copy 1 has original dust jacket.
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/10377564
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780226245737 (cloth : alk. paper)
022624573X (cloth : alk. paper)
9780226245874 (e-book)
Notes:Includes bibliographical references (pages 391-405) and index.
Summary:William Hyde Wollaston made an astonishing number of discoveries in an astonishingly varied number of fields: platinum metallurgy, the existence of ultraviolet radiation, the chemical elements palladium and rhodium, the amino acid cystine, and the physiology of binocular vision, among others. Along with his colleagues Humphry Davy and Thomas Young, he was widely recognized during his life as one of Britain{u2019}s leading scientific practitioners in the first part of the nineteenth century, and the deaths of all three within a six-month span, between 1828 and 1829, were seen by many as the end of a glorious period of British scientific supremacy. Unlike Davy and Young, however, Wollaston was not the subject of a contemporary biography, and his many impressive achievements have fallen into obscurity as a result. Pure Intelligence is the first book-length study of Wollaston, his science, and the environment in which he thrived. Drawing on previously-unstudied laboratory records as well as historical reconstructions of chemical experiments and discoveries, and written in a highly accessible style, Pure Intelligence will help to reinstate Wollaston in the history of science, and the pantheon of its great innovators.
Standard no.:40025044367
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgments
  • Note to Reader
  • List of Abbreviations
  • Prologue
  • 1. The Making of a Physician: 1766-1795
  • Wollaston's Early Years
  • The Wollaston Lineage
  • The Route to a Medical Degree
  • The Eccentric Smithson Tennant
  • Becoming a Doctor
  • Life as a Country Physician
  • 2. Early Medical and Scientific Interests: 1792-1800
  • Early Scientific Interests
  • Studies on Human Calculi
  • Activities with the Royal College of Physicians
  • Familial and Political Stresses
  • A Chemical Partnership
  • New Scientific Interests
  • Studies on the Refraction of Light
  • The End of Doctoring
  • 3. Early Years as a Natural Philosopher: 1800-1802
  • Research on Electricity
  • Move to Buckingham Street
  • Royal Society Involvement
  • Lifelong Colleagues: Humphry Davy and Thomas Young
  • The Primacy of Observation
  • Pioneering Studies on the Refraction and Dispersion of Light
  • Double Refraction in Iceland Spar
  • Optical Instruments for Naval Use
  • 4. Malleable Platinum: 1800-1801
  • Early Studies of Spanish Platina
  • Wollaston's Platinum Purification Process
  • The Need for Secrecy
  • The Production of Malleable Platinum
  • 5. Palladium and Rhodium: 1801-1825
  • The Batch Process for Commercial Platinum
  • The Discovery of Palladium
  • The Palladium Controversy
  • The Discovery of Rhodium
  • Wollaston Reveals his Secret
  • Commercial Applications of Palladium and Rhodium
  • 6. Optical Devices and Social Networks: 1804-1809
  • Periscopic Spectacles
  • Periscopic Camera Obscura and Microscope
  • Opposition to Meniscus Lenses
  • The Camera Lucida: A New Drawing Instrument
  • Use of the Camera Lucida
  • Royal Society Activities
  • The Forces of Moving Bodies
  • The Lure of Cambridge
  • New Social and Scientific Networks
  • 7. Commercial Platinum: 1805-1820
  • The First Sales of Platinum
  • Firearm Touchholes
  • Sulfuric Acid Boilers
  • Total Platinum Purchases and Sales
  • Improvements to Platinum Refining
  • Financial Security
  • 8. Organic Chemicals and Multiple Combining Proportions: 1802-1815
  • Chemicals from Wine Dregs
  • Production and Sale of Organic Chemicals
  • The Continuing Partnership with Smithson Tennant
  • Multiple Combining Proportions in the Salts of Organic Acids
  • Thomas Thomson, Dalton, and Atomic Theory
  • Wollaston's Integral Combining Proportions
  • The Impact of Wollaston's Paper on Multiple Proportions
  • 9. Crystals and Atoms: 1803-1818
  • Yearly Excursions
  • The Contact Goniometer
  • The Reflective Goniometer
  • Crystals and Elementary Particles
  • An Opportunity Missed
  • 10. More Practical and Conceptual Innovation: 1809-1822
  • The Sounds of Muscular Contraction
  • Microanalysis
  • The Cryophorus and Fine Platinum Wires
  • The Logarithmic Scale of Chemical Equivalents
  • Atoms or Equivalents
  • The Upper Limit of the Atmosphere
  • 11. Changing Priorities: 1809-1815
  • Electrochemical Secretions and Blood Sugar
  • The Attractions of Gravity. France, and English Institutions
  • The Visit of Berzelius
  • A Man at the Peak of his Powers
  • The Resurrection of Europe
  • Deaths of a Business Partner and a Father
  • A More Relaxed Life
  • 12. Service to Government and the Royal Society: 1803-1820
  • Excise Taxes and Sikes's Hydrometer
  • Wollaston as Paid Consultant
  • Service on Government Committees
  • The Board of Longitude
  • The Presidency of the Royal Society
  • 13. A Diversity of Interests: 1815-1824
  • Friendship with Julia Hankey
  • More Leisure Time
  • Continuing Scientific Work and the End of the Platinum Business
  • Electromagnetic Rotation and the Faraday Incident
  • More Novel Observations
  • Pioneering Physiological Research
  • Three Remarkable Women
  • 14. The Last Years: 1824-1828
  • Family, Friends, and Fishing
  • The End of Scientific Work
  • The Onset of Illness
  • Another Chance at the Presidency of the Royal Society
  • The Last Year
  • Preparations for Death
  • 15. Post Mortem and Legacy: 1828-Present
  • Post Mortem
  • The Legacy of William Hyde Wollaston
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
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