Murdock

The discovery that usehil chemicals could be made from coal tar provided the foundation upon which the modem chemical industry is built. Industrial chemistry expanded rapidly in the late nineteenth century in German laboratories and factories where coal-tar chemicals were refined and used in synthesis of dyes and pharmaceuticals. But coal-tar production has an eadier origin, dating back to the discovery by William Murdock in 1792 that heating coal in the absence of air generated a gas suitable for lighting. Murdock commercialized this technology, and by 1812 the streets of London were illuminated with coal gas (1). 

Gas-Liquid Mixtures An empirical equation was developed by Murdock [J. Basic Eng., 84, 419 33 (1962)] for the measurement of gas-liquid mixtures using sharp-edged orifice plates with either radius, flange, or pipe taps. 

Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock in Cornwall. 

Murdock D.G., Christacos N.C., Wallace D.C. The age-related accumulation of a mitochondrial DNA control region mutation in muscle, but not brain, detected by a sensitive PNA-directed PCR clamping based method. Nudeic Acids Res. 2000 28 4350-4355. 

J. Murdock, Normal Forms and Unfoldings for Local Dynamical Systems, Springer, New York, 2002. 

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