William Arthur Smeaton
William Arthur Smeaton (born October 24, 1924 in Broughty Ferry near Dundee , † January 22, 2001 in Cambridge ) was a British chemical historian .
Smeaton studied chemistry from 1942 at Imperial College London with a bachelor's degree in 1945. He was then a lecturer in inorganic chemistry at the London Metropolitan University (then Northern Polytechnic), where he was a senior lecturer from 1946. He also studied history of science at University College London , earned his master’s degree with a thesis on Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau in 1953 and his doctorate in 1958 with a dissertation on Antoine François de Fourcroy . In the same year he was a fellow of the CNRS at the Institut d'Histoire des Sciences of the Sorbonne . In 1959 he became a lecturer in the history of science at University College London under Douglas McKie . In 1963 he was Reader and in 1968 he received a D.Sc . for his work. In 1982 he retired .
His research focus was French chemical history in the 18th and 19th centuries (next to Lavoisier and his school Fourcroy and Guyton de Morveau and the Dijon Academy). He worked a lot with his teacher Douglas McKie and various collectors such as Denis Duveen . He himself owned an extensive book collection on his research topic. A number of biographies in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography come from him .
In 2001 he received the Dexter Award . From 1986 to 1993 he chaired the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry and was a book reviewer for their journal Ambix.
He was a hobby archaeologist (retired at Cambridge University ) and an outdoor activist (mountain hiking, cross-country skiing).
In 1993 he married Jacqueline Regester, with whom he had a son. He lived in Ely when he was retired .
Fonts
- Fourcroy: Chemist and Revolutionary 1755-1809, Ed. Heffer & Sons, Cambridge, 1962
- LB Guyton de Morveau (1737-1816): A Bibliographical Study, Ambix, Volume 6, 1957, pp. 18-34.
- with Roy G. Neville: Macquer's Dictionnaire de Chymie: A bibliographical Study, Annales of Science, Volume 33, 1981, pp. 613-662
- Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, FRS (1737-1816) and His Relations with British Scientists, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Volume 22, 1967, pp. 113-130
- The Foundation of the Metric System in France in the 1790s: The Importance of Étienne Lenoir's Platinum Measuring Instruments, Platinum Metals Reviews, Volume 44, 2000, pp. 125-134.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smeaton, William Arthur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British chemical historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 24, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Broughty Ferry |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 2001 |
| Place of death | Cambridge |