Sir Thomas Edward ThorpeBorn 8 Dec 1845; died 23 Feb 1925 at age 79. English chemist and author whose work in inorganic chemistry included the supervision of research into determining the presence of arsenic in beer and how to make pottery glazes without lead. In his early studies, while a chemistry student under Roscoe, he became a research assistant in his pioneering research work on vanadium, and the determination of its atomic weight. After graduation he worked first with Bunsen and then Kekulé. He then spent time teaching at the Royal College of Science, London (which became Imperial College). Later in life, he was director of the government laboratories (1894-1909). His research included study of phosphorus fluorides and oxides, in which he discovered the valence of five for phosphorus in phosphorus pentafluoride. As well as textbooks in chemistry, he wrote about chemistry history.« |
