Theodore William RichardsBorn 31 Jan 1868; died 2 Apr 1928 at age 60.American analytical chemist who was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize for Chemistry "in recognition of his accurate determinations of the atomic weight of a large number of chemical elements." His work meticulously refined the classical gravimetric methods of analysis to better reduce the sources of error. His work, and that of coworkers yielded accurate values for atomic weight for over 60 elements. In 1913, he found that the atomic weight of ordinary lead differed from lead produced from the radioactive decay of uranium and thus concurred with Soddy's prediction of isotopes. Richard's values were not improved until mass spectrometry became available after WW II. He also carried out work in thermochemistry and electrochemistry.« |
