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Sir Eric K. Rideal (1890–1974)
SIRERICK. RIDEAL (1 890- 1974)
Sir Eric K. Rideal (1 890-1 974) Eric Keightley Rideal was born on April 11, 1890 at Sydenham, near London. His father was Samuel Rideal, D. Sc. Lond., a Fellow of University College, London, a leading consulting chemist of the day, and an authority on water supplies, whose name lives on in the Rideal-Walker test for disinfectants. Eric Rideal went to Oundle School and after a successful scholastic career entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1907 with an Open Scholarship. At Cambridge he came under the influence of W. B. Hardy, at that time lecturer in physiology, who kindled his lifelong interest in surface chemistry. Graduating in 1910 with First Class Honours, Rideal went on to electrochemical studies on uranium, first at Aachen, then at Bonn, where he submitted his Ph.D. thesis in 1912 and graduated in 1913. His first job was to collaborate with his Cambridge friend, Dr. U. R. Evans, working in his father’s laboratory at 8 Victoria St., Westminster ; the two young men produced a neat electrochemical cell for estimation of ozone or chlorine in water and also conducted a survey of the fuel cell problem, which was published in 1921. At the outbreak of war, Rideal was in Ecuador working on their water supplies, and returning to England he joined the Artists’ Rifles, but was transferred to the Royal Engineers. In 1916 he was serving with the Australians at the Somme supervising their water supplies, but a severe attack of dysentery led to his being invalided out and attached to the Munitions Inventions Board, working in Donnan’s laboratory in University College, London. Here he started up on catalytic work, first on ammonia synthesis with Greenwood, Maxted, and Partington, and later collaborating with Hugh S. Taylor, recently returned from Princeton, on a catalyst (a mixture of iron and chromium oxides) to selectively oxidize carbon monoxide in the presence of hydrogen. In solitary nights in a gasworks in Wapping, Rideal and Taylor planned their major work “Catalysis in Theory and Practice,” which appeared in 1919. In 1919 on the advice of Professor James Kendall, Rideal was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois, returning in 1920 to the Humphrey Owen Jones Lectureship in physical chemistry at Cambridge and a Fellowship at his old College, Trinity Hall. On the boat he met the charming American lady, Peggy, whom he married in 1921. At this time he started research in Lowry’s laboratory, his first student being R. G. W. ...
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SIR ERIC K . RIDEAL
Norrish. During the period to 1930 he supervised numerous research students in the areas of catalysis, photochemistry, homogeneous kinetics, electrochemistry, colloid science, and spectroscopy. From this period one might single out Bowden’s overvoltage studies and his Langmuir trough studies with Cary, Schofield, Schulman, and others for special mention. In the area of heterogeneous catalysis he attempted with Wansbrough-Jones to link the oxidation of platinum with its work function, an early effort in the “electron-factor’’ area of heterogeneous catalysis, unfortunately not followed up. In 1930 Rideal was elected Humphrey Owen Jones Professor of Colloid Science, and moved his research to a new laboratory in Free School Lane, which became famous as one of the world centers of activity in its area. Here he was joined by J. K. Roberts, a pioneer of chemisorption studies on clean metals, whose influence, exerted through his questions at the weekly colloquia, influenced the studies of Rideal’s students, such as Bosworth, Twigg, Orr, Craxford, Herington, Barrer, and numerous others, in the adsorption and catalysis area. For a time A. and L. Farkas worked with Rideal, introducing parahydrogen and deuterium exchange techniques, which Rideal employed to good purpose. At this time Rideal put forward the idea of reaction occurring between chemisorbed atoms and physically adsorbed molecules (the Rideal mechanism). Rideal, a disciple of Langmuir, may be regarded as one of the pioneers of surface science in the United Kingdom. At the same time he was carrying out numerous investigations in the colloid area and stimulating polymer studies under H. W. Melville. With the outbreak of war the Colloid Science Department largely went over to war work, and after the war, in 1946, Rideal left for London, to become Fullerian Professor and Director of the Davy Faraday Laboratory at the Royal Institution. Trapnell’s chemisorption studies date from this period. In 1950 he moved on to a Chair at King’s College, London, where he was joined by A. J. B. Robertson and J. T. Davies. In 1955 he retired, joining Imperial College as a Senior Research Fellow in his old pupil’s, R. M. Barrer, department. It was here in 1968 that he published his book “Concepts in Catalysis,” fifty years after his book with H. S. Taylor. Rideal was a great scientific leader who through his own activities and those of his numerous successful pupils has exerted a profound influence on world science. His father undoubtedly influenced the breadth of his interests and his enthusiasm for applied sciences, and W. B. Hardy helped to focus his research interests and to shape his scientific attitudes. Rideal’s characteristics were friendliness and helpfulness, and an enthusiasm for colloid science research which was infectious in the extreme. He worked hard and served the Chemical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, and the Faraday Society as President, in each case a fruitful period of office. For his service to the Government he was made M.B.E.
SIR ERIC K . RIDEAL
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in 1919, and knighted in 1951. He valued his contacts with scientists in the United States and visited that country most years of his working life. He was born and died in the same year as Sir Hugh S. Taylor. The two lived and worked in friendly rivalry, the one favoring catalytic activity occurring on homogeneous lattice planes, the other on active sites, both hypotheses set up by Irving Langmuir, and both still attracting animated debate. In 1949 Rideal joined Komarewsky and Frankenburg as the founding Editors of Aduanres in Catalysis. There is something peculiarly satisfying in the thought of a sapper of World War I joining in with a Russian cavalry officer and a holder of the Iron Cross, First Class, after World War I1 in what has proved to be an enduring scientific project. D. D. ELEY
Sir Eric K. Rideal (1 890-1 974) Eric Keightley Rideal was born on April 11, 1890 at Sydenham, near London. His father was Samuel Rideal, D. Sc. Lond., a Fellow of University College, London, a leading consulting chemist of the day, and an authority on water supplies, whose name lives on in the Rideal-Walker test for disinfectants. Eric Rideal went to Oundle School and after a successful scholastic career entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1907 with an Open Scholarship. At Cambridge he came under the influence of W. B. Hardy, at that time lecturer in physiology, who kindled his lifelong interest in surface chemistry. Graduating in 1910 with First Class Honours, Rideal went on to electrochemical studies on uranium, first at Aachen, then at Bonn, where he submitted his Ph.D. thesis in 1912 and graduated in 1913. His first job was to collaborate with his Cambridge friend, Dr. U. R. Evans, working in his father’s laboratory at 8 Victoria St., Westminster ; the two young men produced a neat electrochemical cell for estimation of ozone or chlorine in water and also conducted a survey of the fuel cell problem, which was published in 1921. At the outbreak of war, Rideal was in Ecuador working on their water supplies, and returning to England he joined the Artists’ Rifles, but was transferred to the Royal Engineers. In 1916 he was serving with the Australians at the Somme supervising their water supplies, but a severe attack of dysentery led to his being invalided out and attached to the Munitions Inventions Board, working in Donnan’s laboratory in University College, London. Here he started up on catalytic work, first on ammonia synthesis with Greenwood, Maxted, and Partington, and later collaborating with Hugh S. Taylor, recently returned from Princeton, on a catalyst (a mixture of iron and chromium oxides) to selectively oxidize carbon monoxide in the presence of hydrogen. In solitary nights in a gasworks in Wapping, Rideal and Taylor planned their major work “Catalysis in Theory and Practice,” which appeared in 1919. In 1919 on the advice of Professor James Kendall, Rideal was appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois, returning in 1920 to the Humphrey Owen Jones Lectureship in physical chemistry at Cambridge and a Fellowship at his old College, Trinity Hall. On the boat he met the charming American lady, Peggy, whom he married in 1921. At this time he started research in Lowry’s laboratory, his first student being R. G. W. ...
XI11
XlV
SIR ERIC K . RIDEAL
Norrish. During the period to 1930 he supervised numerous research students in the areas of catalysis, photochemistry, homogeneous kinetics, electrochemistry, colloid science, and spectroscopy. From this period one might single out Bowden’s overvoltage studies and his Langmuir trough studies with Cary, Schofield, Schulman, and others for special mention. In the area of heterogeneous catalysis he attempted with Wansbrough-Jones to link the oxidation of platinum with its work function, an early effort in the “electron-factor’’ area of heterogeneous catalysis, unfortunately not followed up. In 1930 Rideal was elected Humphrey Owen Jones Professor of Colloid Science, and moved his research to a new laboratory in Free School Lane, which became famous as one of the world centers of activity in its area. Here he was joined by J. K. Roberts, a pioneer of chemisorption studies on clean metals, whose influence, exerted through his questions at the weekly colloquia, influenced the studies of Rideal’s students, such as Bosworth, Twigg, Orr, Craxford, Herington, Barrer, and numerous others, in the adsorption and catalysis area. For a time A. and L. Farkas worked with Rideal, introducing parahydrogen and deuterium exchange techniques, which Rideal employed to good purpose. At this time Rideal put forward the idea of reaction occurring between chemisorbed atoms and physically adsorbed molecules (the Rideal mechanism). Rideal, a disciple of Langmuir, may be regarded as one of the pioneers of surface science in the United Kingdom. At the same time he was carrying out numerous investigations in the colloid area and stimulating polymer studies under H. W. Melville. With the outbreak of war the Colloid Science Department largely went over to war work, and after the war, in 1946, Rideal left for London, to become Fullerian Professor and Director of the Davy Faraday Laboratory at the Royal Institution. Trapnell’s chemisorption studies date from this period. In 1950 he moved on to a Chair at King’s College, London, where he was joined by A. J. B. Robertson and J. T. Davies. In 1955 he retired, joining Imperial College as a Senior Research Fellow in his old pupil’s, R. M. Barrer, department. It was here in 1968 that he published his book “Concepts in Catalysis,” fifty years after his book with H. S. Taylor. Rideal was a great scientific leader who through his own activities and those of his numerous successful pupils has exerted a profound influence on world science. His father undoubtedly influenced the breadth of his interests and his enthusiasm for applied sciences, and W. B. Hardy helped to focus his research interests and to shape his scientific attitudes. Rideal’s characteristics were friendliness and helpfulness, and an enthusiasm for colloid science research which was infectious in the extreme. He worked hard and served the Chemical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, and the Faraday Society as President, in each case a fruitful period of office. For his service to the Government he was made M.B.E.
SIR ERIC K . RIDEAL
xv
in 1919, and knighted in 1951. He valued his contacts with scientists in the United States and visited that country most years of his working life. He was born and died in the same year as Sir Hugh S. Taylor. The two lived and worked in friendly rivalry, the one favoring catalytic activity occurring on homogeneous lattice planes, the other on active sites, both hypotheses set up by Irving Langmuir, and both still attracting animated debate. In 1949 Rideal joined Komarewsky and Frankenburg as the founding Editors of Aduanres in Catalysis. There is something peculiarly satisfying in the thought of a sapper of World War I joining in with a Russian cavalry officer and a holder of the Iron Cross, First Class, after World War I1 in what has proved to be an enduring scientific project. D. D. ELEY