Thomas Clark (chemist)

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Thomas Clark (born March 31, 1801 in Ayr , † November 27, 1867 in Glasgow ) was a Scottish chemist.

Life

Clark was the son of a captain and seamstress and attended the Ayr Academy. He then worked for Charles Macintosh and Tennant in Glasgow. From 1826 he taught chemistry at the Mechanic Institution in Glasgow and also studied medicine (MD degree in 1831), where he also worked as a hospital pharmacist. In 1833 he became a chemistry professor at Marischal College in Aberdeen (later the University of Aberdeen). He gave up teaching in 1843/44 because of health problems, but was (appointed by his friend John Stuart Mill ) on the University Council and was officially retired in 1860 when the University of Aberdeen was formed. After he gave up his professorship, he studied the history of the Gospels.

He investigated the sodium salts of phosphoric acid and discovered tetrasodium diphosphate in 1836 . The work was also the impetus for Thomas Graham to work with different types of phosphoric acids. He is best known for the introduction of measuring methods and a scale for water hardness introduced by the government soon after (patented 1841) and a method of water softening by washing with milk of lime.

The English hardness scale for water (English degree, Clark Degree or simply Clark) comes from him. It corresponds to one grain (64.8 mg) calcium carbonate per imperial gallon (4.55 liters) of water or 14.254 ppm.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Clark, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British chemist
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Ayr
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1867
Place of death Glasgow