Royal College of Science

Chemistry Department, Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow, Scotland. 

After Frankland s move to the Royal College of Chemistry, which had become part of the Royal School of Mines, the school moved to South Kensington (1872), where it became known in 1885 as the Normal School of Science, then, in 1890, the Royal College of Science. The City and Guilds Central Institution, later the Central Technical College, opened across the street from the Royal School of Mines in 1884. Frankland s former pupil, Henry Armstrong, became the Technical College s professor of chemistry. 

The development of the chemical industry did not, of course, spring wholly from the work of theoreticians such as Kekule. William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), working at the age of 18 in the laboratory of August Wilhelm von Hofmann at the Royal College of Science in London, had been put to work on the synthesis of the drug quinine from aniline, the latter a coal-tar product that had been isolated by Hofmann. Perkin failed to synthesize quinine, but as a result of his... 

Royal College of Science, London, SW7 2AY, England. tGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332. 

Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, 1836-1920. Director of the solar physics observatory of The Royal College of Science at South Kensington. Pioneer in the spectroscopy of the sun and stars. In 1868 Lockyer and Janssen independently discovered a spectroscopic method of observing the solar prominences in daylight. Such observations had previously been made only at the time of total eclipses of the sun. 

H.C. Longuet-Higgins, An application of chemistry to mathematics, Scientific Journal of the Royal College of Science 23 (1953) 99-106, on 99. 

C.A. Coulson, What is a chemical bond Scientific Journal of the Royal College of Science 21 (1952) 11-29, on 11. 

The father of modem synthetic dyes was William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), who synthesized mauve, or aniline purple, in 1856. The story behind this great story bears telling. William s father was a builder who wanted him to become an architect, but like many others, Perkin did not follow his father s chosen profession. Perkin studied at the City of London School where he became interested in chemistry at the age of 12. A teacher, Mr. Hall, gave him work in the laboratory, which in turn, inspired Perkin to follow his natural curiosity. At age 15, Perkin entered the Royal College of Science and listened to the lectures... 

Seward was Lecturer at RHC in 1887, one of her students being Whiteley. Perhaps their paths crossed again in 1904 when Seward (see Chap. 3) was Lecturer at King s College, Women s Department, in Kensington Square, while Whiteley had just taken up an appointment at nearby Royal College of Science in South Kensington. 

Olive Workman84 obtained a B.Sc. from UCL in 1916, and an M.Sc. from the Royal College of Science, London, in 1919. In the Register of the Royal College of Science, she is noted as being a science mistress. 

Certificates of candidates for election at the Ballot to be held at the ordinary scientific meeting on Thursday, December 2nd. Proceedings of the Chemical Society 100 and (1951). Register of Old Students and Staff of the Royal College of Science, 6th ed. Royal College of Science Association, London. 

Some of the courses, including chemistry, were merged with other science subjects to form the Normal School of Science (named after the Ecole Normale in Paris). The Normal School of Science was renamed the Royal College of Science (RCS) in 1890. At first, the RCS saw itself primarily as a teacher training college in practical science and, as such, attracted women students including some from overseas. 

One of the early women students was Kathleen Mary Leeds.70 Leeds was educated at Croydon High School (a GPDSC school) before entering the Royal College of Science in 1904 and graduating in 1908. In 1911, she was appointed Science Mistress at her former school, but died tragically in 1921. 

In 1902, Whiteley was awarded a D.Sc. from the University of London and the following year, she was invited to join the staff at Imperial College as an Assistant under William Tilden. Her appointment was reported in The Phoenix At the Prize Distribution, we had the very great pleasure of watching Dr. Whiteley take her place with the Staff, the first lady to occupy that position at the Royal College of Science. 75 Whiteley was promoted to Demonstrator in 1908 and, with the drafting of male scientists for war work in 1914, Whiteley was then appointed to the rank of Lecturer. 

One of Whiteley s assistants (another being Edith Usherwood see Chap. 11) was Frances Mary Gore Micklethwait.80 Micklethwait was born on 7 March 1868, daughter of J. P. Micklethwait of Chepstow, Monmouthshire. After a private education, she attended the Swanley Horticultural College, where she gained her love of chemistry. In 1898, she transferred to the Royal College of Science, obtaining an Associateship in 1901. 

C.E.A.S. [Speed, C.]. (1904-1905). Some fallacies about US. The Phoenix 17 32-35. By permission of the archives, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. Clarisse Speed completed an associateship of the Royal College of Science (A.R.C.S.) from 1902-1906, and then became a lecturer in music (extramural) at the University of Cambridge. 

Register of Old Students and Staff of the Royal College of Science, 6th ed. Royal College of Science Association, London. 

Mary Boyle,47 like Field, another petitioner for admission to the Chemical Society, was also a stalwart of the Chemistry Department at RHC. She was bom in 1874 and entered the Royal College of Science in 1898. Boyle took the full three-year course for chemistry before transferring to RHC in 1901, where she gained her B.Sc. after one year of study. She remained at RHC, firstly as a Demonstrator, then Assistant Lecturer in 1906, rising to Staff Lecturer. 

Creese, M. R. S. (1998). Ladies in the Laboratory American and British Women in Science 1800-1900. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, p. 266 Royal College of Science, Student Records. 

Andrew Galwey s university career in research, teaching and administration was entirely at the Queen s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was appointed as Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry in 1957 and retired 38 years later as Reader in Physical Chemistry and Head of Teaching in the School of Chemistiy. Dr Galwey s PhD was awarded in 1958 by the University of London for research carried out in the Royal College of Science, Imperial College, under the supervision of Dr (later Professor) P.W.M. Jacobs. In 1973 the degree of DSc (London University) was awarded for a thesis, "Some Reactions of Solids", based on his published research. 

Professor Orr (Notes on Thermodynamics for the Use of Students in the Royal College of Science, Ireland, printed pnvately) defines reversibility as follows —... 

Royal College of Chemistry, 85, 98 Royal College of Physicians, 87,104-5 Royal College of Science, 122 Royal Flying Corps, 139 Royal Institntion, 69, 82, 84, 92, 97, 101, 104, 249, 257 Royal Ordnance Factory, see Qneensferry... 

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