William Cruickshank

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William Cruickshank

William Cruickshank († 1810 or 1811) was a Scottish military doctor, chemist and professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy in the London borough of Woolwich .

He received his Masters from King's College Aberdeen in 1765 and later a diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of England . When chemistry classes were introduced at the Royal Military Academy in 1788, he became the assistant to Adair Crawford , with whom he must have discovered strontium in 1790 . After his death he followed him as a lecturer in 1796 until he retired in 1804 due to illness. His assistant MacCulloch took over his duties.

In 1797 Cruickshank showed that there is a crystallizable substance in the urine that can be precipitated by nitric acid. With that he had represented the urea .

In March 1800, Alessandro Volta announced his invention, the voltaic column , in a letter to the Royal Society . A few months later, in July 1800, Cruickshank published a description of its improved version, the trough battery . It became the first mass-produced battery. He also performed one of the first electrolyses and decomposed salt water.

He is often confused with William Cumberland Cruikshank (1745-1800).

supporting documents

  1. ^ Lance Day, Ian McNeil: Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology ; P. 316
  2. ^ Lewis, Knell: The making of the Geological Society of London ; P. 227
  3. ↑ The results of the trials of various acids, and some other substances, in the treatment of the Lues Veneres etc. by William Cruickshank . In: John Rollo († 1809). An account of two cases of the diabetes mellitus… London 1797, part II, pp. 141–225 (digitized version )
  4. ^ William Coulson. On the diseases of the bladder and prostate gland . John Churchill, London 1857, p. 15. (digitized version)
  5. ^ William Cruickshank: Continued Observations on the Chemical Effects of Galvanic Electricity . In: Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert (Ed.): Annalen der Physik . tape 7 , no. 1 . Rengersche Buchhandlung, Halle 1801, 2. A modification of the new galvanic apparatus Alex. Volta's, S. 88–113 (2nd chapter: pp. 99–102) , doi : 10.1002 / andp.18010070108 ( online at Gallica Bibliothèque nationale de France [accessed on October 19, 2016]): “I made wood that was dried in the oven was to make a kind of trough [...] The zinc and silver plates that were soldered together were cemented to the trough by means of a putty made of resin and wax, so that no droplet of water could penetrate from one cell to the other or between the soldered plates "
  6. ^ Ian McNeil: An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology ; P. 352
personal data
SURNAME Cruickshank, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish military doctor and chemist
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
DATE OF DEATH 1810 or 1811