Robert Kane (chemist)
.jpg)
Sir Robert John Kane (born September 24, 1809 in Dublin , † February 16, 1890 ibid) was an Irish chemist .
Robert Kane's father, John Kean , was involved in an uprising in 1798 and then emigrated to France , where he studied chemistry. When he returned to Dublin, Kean (now Kane) founded the "Kane Company" and manufactured sulfuric acid .
His son Robert Kane studied chemistry in the factory and his first publication Observations on the existence of chlorine in the native peroxide of manganese appeared in 1828. He also studied medicine at Trinity College in Dublin and pharmacy in Paris . His book Elements of Practical Pharmacy was so successful that he was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1832 . In 1832 he was one of the founders of the Dublin Journal of Medical Science. He was Professor of Chemistry at the Apothecaries Hall in Dublin and from 1834 teacher and later Professor at the Royal Dublin Society. In 1836 he spent three months with Justus Liebig in Gießen , where he studied organic chemistry.
He examined acids and showed that hydrogen was the electropositive element in the compound. Kane also predicted the existence of the ethyl radical . 1841-1844 he published the three-volume work Elements of Chemistry and a detailed report on the Industrial Resources of Ireland .
In 1829 he discovered manganese arsenide (named after him Kaneit). In 1835 he gave the correct empirical formula for acetone and was the first to synthesize mesitylene from acetone and sulfuric acid and trichloromesitylene from this by introducing chlorine . He also looked at essential oils and the color of litmus .
In 1841 he was awarded the Royal Medal by the Royal Society ; In 1849 he was accepted as a member. In 1845 Sir Robert Peel appointed him director of the "Museum of Irish Industry" in Dublin and President of Queen's College in Cork . In 1846 Kane was knighted.
He eventually became a political and scientific advisor and in this capacity worked (more or less in vain) on several commissions to combat the Great Famine in Ireland , which arose as a result of the poor harvests of potatoes between 1845 and 1849. His involvement in politics and administration meant that from 1844 he no longer published any chemical articles.
In 1873 he became the National Commissioner for Education. From 1877 to 1882 he was President of the Royal Irish Academy and in 1880 Chancellor of the newly founded Royal University of Ireland.
Fonts
- Elements of Practical Pharmacy, Dublin: Hodges & Smith 1831
- Elements of chemistry, theoretical and practical: including the most recent discoveries and applications of the science to medicine and pharmacy, to agriculture, and to manufactures, 2nd ed., Dublin: Hodges and Smith, 1849
- Industrial Resources of Ireland, 1844, The Development of industrial society series, Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1977 ISBN 0-7165-1599-7
literature
- Winfried Pötsch u. a. Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989
Web links
- Peter Childs, Robert John Kane 1809–1890 ( Memento June 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- Entry for Kane, Sir, Robert John (1809-1890) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kane, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kane, Robert John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 24, 1809 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dublin |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 16, 1890 |
| Place of death | Dublin |