Edward Frankland
Frankland, Edward (1825-1899) was a British chemist who worked on the theory of valency and was one of the discoverers of helium in the sun's atmosphere. He was the first person to make the organometallic compounds zinc methyl and zinc ethyl. He also demonstrated the amounts of carbon and nitrogen in natural water. In addition, he carried out important work on water supply and sanitation.
Frankland was born at Churchtown in Lancashire, England. In 1840, he was apprenticed to Stephen Ross, a pharmacist with whom he worked for five years. A local doctor provided him with a laboratory in which to carry out chemistry experiments in his spare time, and in 1845 helped Frankland get a position in the laboratory of the chemist Lyon Playfair in London.
In the summer of 1847, Frankland went to Marburg, Germany, to study with the German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. From 1847 to 1848, he taught science at Queenwood College, a Quaker school in Hampshire, England. He returned to Marburg for further study in 1848, and obtained his doctorate. In 1850, he became a professor of chemistry at London's Puthey College for Civil Engineering.
Frankland taught chemistry at Owens College in Manchester, England, from 1851 to 1857. In 1857, he became a lecturer in chemistry at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. Starting in 1859, he concurrently lectured in science at Addiscombe Military College. In 1863, he began teaching chemistry at the Royal Institution.
In 1865, Frankland became professor of chemistry at the Royal College of Chemistry, which later united with the Royal School of Mines. He held this post until his retirement in 1885.
Frankland did pioneering work on organometallic compounds (substances that consist of organic compounds and metal atoms). He was the first person to make the organometallic compounds zinc methyl and zinc ethyl. Over the course of his study, he prepared organometallic compounds of zinc, mercury, tin, boron, sodium, and potassium.
In May 1852, Frankland asserted that there are a specific, finite number of bonds (chemical links) that an atom can form with other atoms. Frankland called this concept atomicity; it later became known as valence or valency. His work in this area was an important contribution to modern structural chemistry.
In 1868, Frankland studied the solar spectrum with the British astronomer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer. Using a spectroscope, they viewed certain bright emission lines. Lockyer later concluded that the lines were created by a previously unknown element, which came to be called helium, from the Greek word for sun.
In 1859, Frankland was asked to recommend to London's metropolitan board of works a means of deodorizing the raw sewage that was being dumped into the River Thames. This was the beginning of several decades of practical work that Frankland carried out on the subjects of river pollution, sewage purification, and the water supply in England and Scotland. He conducted monthly analyses of drinking water and devised new methods of testing water. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Rivers Pollution from 1868 to 1874. In 1897 he was knighted for his work as a water analyst for the government.
Frankland was a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Science of Bavaria, and the scientific academies of Berlin, St. Petersburg, Bohemia, and New York. He was a fellow of the Chemical Society, and served as its president from 1871 to 1873. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1853; the society awarded him its Royal Medal in 1857 and its Copley Medal in 1894. He helped found the Institute of Chemistry (a society for professional chemists) and served as its first president, from 1877 to 1880.
Frankland wrote numerous scientific papers and co-wrote 16 others. He published a number of books, including How to Teach Chemistry (1875), Experimental Researches in Pure, Applied, and Physical Chemistry (1877), and Water Analysis for Sanitary Purposes (1880).
In 1851, Frankland married Sophie Fick, with whom he had three sons and two daughters. Fick died in 1874. In 1875, he married Ellen Grenside, with whom he had two daughters. His son Percy Faraday Frankland became a noted chemist.