- Augustus George Vernon Harcourt
Augustus George Vernon Harcourt FRS (
December 24 ,1834 –August 23 ,1919 ) was a English chemist who spent his career atOxford University . He was one of the first scientists to do quantitative work in the field ofchemical kinetics . His uncle, William Vernon Harcourt (1789 – 1871), founded the British Association for the Advancement of Science.Brief biography
According to "Who's Who", Harcourt was born in London in 1824 to Admiral Fredrick E. Vernon Harcourt and his wife, Marcia [Citation | last = | first = | contribution = | editor-last = Sladen | editor-first = Douglas | title = Who's Who | volume = | page = 656 | publisher = Adam & Charles Black | place = London | year = 1897 ] Harcourt's mother was sister of the first Lord Tollemache. Augustus Harcourt was educated at
Harrow School before enrolling at Oxford's Balliol College, where he took a degree in Natural Science in 1858, working with Henry Smith and Benjamin Brodie. A year later Harcourt became Lee's Reader in chemistry and took a position as a senior student at Christ Church, an Oxford college. Working with the mathematicianWilliam Esson (1838 – 1916), Harcourt began a series of chemical investigations which lasted for over 40 years.In 1872, Harcourt married Rachel Mary Bruce, daughter of the Home Secretary, Henry Bruce. The couple had two sons and eight daughters. [cite journal | author = Shorter, John | title = A. G. Vernon Harcourt | journal = Journal of Chemical Education | year = 1980 | volume = 57 | pages = 411 – 416 ] Harcourt was contemporary with Charles Dodgson, better known as
Lewis Carroll , and is mentioned in Carroll's diaries. [cite journal | author = King, M. Christine | title = The Chemist in Allegory: Augustus Vernon Harcourt and the White Knight | journal = Journal of Chemical Education | year = 1983 | volume = 60 | pages = 177 – 180 ]Harcourt remained at Oxford until he retired in 1902, whereupon he moved to St. Clare, near Ryde on the Isle of Wight. He died there in 1919, and his wife followed in 1927.
Chemical kinetics
In a long partnership, Harcourt and William Esson studied the rates of chemical reactions. Among the processes they investigated was the acid-catalyzed
iodine clock reaction (iodide and hydrogen peroxide). Their work showed that the reaction's changing rate was proportional to the concentration of reactants present. This result was later formalized by Guldberg and Waage as thelaw of mass action . Harcourt and Esson also studied the reaction between oxalic acid and potassium permanganate.Other scientific work
Harcourt's other activities included inventing a device to safely administer chloroform (an anesthesic), and the analysis and purification of
coal gas , used for illumination. Harcourt also invented pentane-burning lamps that served as photometric standards.Honours and activities
* 1863 - Fellow of the Royal Society
* 1865 – 1873 - Secretary of the Chemical Society
* 1895 - President of the Chemical SocietySee also
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Chemical kinetics References
For further reading
* - Harcourt's chloroform regulator.
* - Harcourt's pentane lamp.
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External links
* [http://rpw.chem.ox.ac.uk/Lee_Readers/ Biographical material from Christ Church (Oxford)]
* [http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/article.asp?doi=ct9201701626 Obituary] from "Journal of the Chemical Society", (1920), volume 117, 1626 – 1648
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