Francis Arthur FreethBorn 2 Jan 1884; died 15 Jul 1970 at age 86. British industrial chemist who was chief chemist to the firm of Brunner, Mond and Co. from 1908. At the outbreak of World War I, he served as an army captain (called up 4 Aug 1914) and was sent to the trenches in France. But by Feb 1915, he was ordered to return from France to the chemical company (1915-18) to devote his prior skills to large-scale production of ammonium nitrate for explosives, a vital wartime need. His solution was controlling the conditions of the double-replacement reaction between ammonium sulphate and Chile saltpetre. Subsequently, he spent much of his career as research manager, including with I.C.I., when it was formed by the merger (1926) of several companies including Brunner Mond. |
