Arthur Lapworth

Arthur Lapworth (born October 10, 1872 in Galashiels , Scottish Borders , Scotland , † April 5, 1941 ) was a British chemist .

Life

After attending school, the son of geologist Charles Lapworth studied at the University of Birmingham and City and Guilds College London , where he worked with Henry Edward Armstrong . In subsequent activities at the School of Pharmacy at the University of London and at the Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute , in 1903 he presented a fundamental work on the synthesis of α-hydroxyketones from aromatic aldehydes and thus on benzoin addition .

In 1913 he accepted a professorship in organic chemistry at the University of Manchester .

There he became a professor of inorganic chemistry and physical chemistry in 1922 , becoming one of the founders of physical organic chemistry , the intersection of physical and organic chemistry. Through his work he influenced the teachings and research of Robert Robinson and Christopher Kelk Ingold on the reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry.

He also developed a number of important ideas in the field of acid-base catalysis , emphasizing the role of protons .

Lapworth was finally awarded the Royal Society's Davy Medal in 1931, the highest British honor for scientists in the field of chemistry, for his outstanding research in the field of organic chemistry .

The fact that William Henry Perkin junior , Frederic Stanley Kipping and Arthur Lapworth sisters married (Perkin Mina Holland, Kipping Lilian and Lapworth Kathleen Holland, the youngest sister) is the subject of a novel-like book by Eugene G. Rochow . Lapworth was temporarily assistant to Kipping in London.

source

• Chambers Biographical Dictionary , Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2 , p. 891

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Davy Medal Winners 1989-1900
2. ↑ Rochow, Eduard Krahé: The Holland Sisters: Their influence on the success of Their husbands Perkin, Kipping and Lapworth, Springer 2001