APPENDIX 479 



Secretary of the Chemical Society from 1869 to 1883, and President 

 from 1883 to 1885. He was also President of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, and at the time of his death, which occurred on July 14th, 

 1907, he was President of the Society of Dyers and Colourists. Of 

 course honours of all kinds were showered on him, and at the jubilee 

 of the discovery of mauve, celebrated in 1906, many distinguished 

 foreign chemists were present. 



SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY, K.C.B., F.R.S., Ph.D., LL.D., D.Sc., etc. 

 Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in University College, London. 



Sir William Ramsay is famous all the world over as the discoverer 

 of terrestrial helium and of neon, krypton, and xenon, the companions 

 of argon in the atmosphere. He was associated with Lord Rayleigh 

 in 1894, in the study of argon, the then newly discovered inert gas 

 found in the air. Previously to this work he had published many 

 papers on physico-chemical subjects of which perhaps the most 

 important are those on the Molecular Surface Energy of Liquids. 

 After the discovery of radium he, in conjunction with Professor 

 Soddy, proved that the gas which escapes from radium is helium. 



Sir William Ramsay received his scientific education at the 

 universities of Glasgow and Tubingen. After teaching for some years 

 in the university of Glasgow he was appointed in 1880 Professor of 

 Chemistry in University College, Bristol, where he soon afterwards 

 became Principal of the College. In 1887 he succeeded Williamson 

 at University College, London, and retired from the Chair in 1912. 



During the last twenty years a profusion of honours has been 

 bestowed on the discoverer of the inert gases of the atmosphere. 

 In recognition of the importance and interest of this discovery, 

 and of the skill displayed in the investigation, he has been elected 

 an honorary member of nearly every scientific academy in the world. 

 In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Sir William 

 Ramsay has also taken a prominent place in connection with 

 several of the scientific bodies in his own country and has occupied 

 the position of President of the Chemical Society, the Society of 

 Chemical Industry, the British Association, and of the International 

 Congress of Applied Chemistry at the meeting held in London in 

 1909. 



Ramsay is distinguished for his skill as a manipulator, which in 

 the management of the difficult operations connected with the 

 collection and measurement of the minute quantities of the emana- 

 tion and gas from radium has contributed largely to his success in 

 this work. He has also a remarkable command of foreign languages. 

 At the International Congress in London the readiness with which 

 he addressed the opening meeting in the four official languages 

 successively, English, French, German, and Italian, attracted 



