William Higgins (chemist)

Illustrations from Higgins Comparative view of phlogistic and anti-phlogistic theories

William Higgins (* 1763 in Collooney , County Sligo, Ireland ; † June 1825 in Dublin ) was an Irish chemist, known as an early proponent of atomic theory in chemistry.

Higgins came from a family of doctors. His uncle Bryan Higgins was an eminent chemist and full-time doctor in London. William Higgins was sent to live with this uncle as a boy to grow up with him. He supported him in his chemical experiments and in 1785 traveled through Great Britain to visit mineral deposits and chemical factories. In 1788 he began studying at Oxford (Magdalen College, soon after Pembroke College), where he made the acquaintance of some chemists such as the later President of the Royal Society Davies Gilbert and Doctors, but left the university in 1788 without a degree. He then lived in London, working on his chemistry textbook on phlogiston theory and its opponents, anticipating the ideas on atomic theory of John Dalton (and combating phlogiston theory). After an argument with his uncle, he moved to Dublin in 1792 as a well-paid chemist for the Irish Corporation of Apothecaries, which soon ended when the company got into financial difficulties, and also worked for the Irish Linen Board). Eventually he became a professor at the Royal Dublin Society and oversaw their mineral collection. In Ireland he was sponsored by Richard Kirwan .

In 1803 he met Humphry Davy on a visit to London , whom his uncle was patronizing and who from 1810 supported Higgins' priority claims over Dalton (who was in competition with Davy) in relation to atomic theory. His theory was in the tradition of Newtonian speculations about atoms, to which he assigned affinity forces and then created reaction diagrams. Davy did not respond directly to the priority debate, but let Thomas Thomson take his position. The debate continued after Higgins' death, with Irish national tones playing a role.

As part of his profession he dealt with the chemistry of bleaching, which he also published.

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society .

Fonts

• Comparative View of Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Theories, London 1789, 2nd edition 1791
• An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Bleaching, Wherein the Sulfuret of Lime Is Recommended as a Substitute for Pot-Ash, Dublin, London, 1799
• A Syllabus of a Course of Chemistry for the year 1802, Dublin, 1801
• Experiments and Observations on the Atomic Theory, and Electrical Phenomena, Dublin, 1814

literature

• JR Partington, TS Wheeler: Life and Work of William Higgins, Chemist, London, 1960
• JR Partington: A history of chemistry, Vol. 3, 1962, pp. 736-749.
• Arnold Thackray , William Higgins, in Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography , 2008
• A. Thackray: Atoms and Powers: An Essay on Newtonian Matter-Theory and the Development of Chemistry, Cambridge, Mass., 1970
• JW van Spronsen: William Higgins, Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, Volume 19, 1966, pp. 74-77
• Thomas Wheeler, William Higgins, Chemist (1763-1825), 3 parts, Studies: an Irish Quarterly Review, Volume 43, 1954, pp. 78-85, 207-218, 327-338