MEN OF THE DAY. PROFESSOR JAMES DEWAR, F R S

Progress, Volume I, Issue 3, 2 January 1906, Page 53

MEN OF THE DAY. PROFESSOR JAMES DEWAR, FR S

James Dewar, the eminent British chemist and physicist, was born at Kmcarchne-on-Forth, Scotland, in 1842. His scientific work covers a large field ; and, of his earlier papers, some deal with questions of organic chemistry, others with Graham's hydrogenium and its physical constants, others with high temperatures, c g., the temperature of the sun and of the electric spark, others again with electro-photometry and the chemistry of the electric arc. With Professor McKendnck, of Glasgow, he investigated the physiological action

of light, and examined the changes which take place in the electrical condition of the retina under its influences. Since the time that liquid air and liquid oxygen have been available m considerable quantities, Professor Dewar has been joined by Professor J. A. Fleming, of University College, London, in the investigation of the electrical behavour of substances cooled to very low temperatures. His interest in the liquefaction of gases, which was described in Novembei issue, dates back as far as 1874, and he was the first to demonstrate the possibilities of this branch of Science in public. Professor Dewar has been president of the Chemical Society and of the Society of Chemical Industry, served on the Balfour Commission on London Water Supply (1893-94), and as a member of the Committee on Explosives (1888-91) invented cordite jointly with Sir Frederick Abel The Royal Society 111 1894 bestowed the Rumford Medal upon Professor Dewar for his work in the production of low temperatures, and in 1899 he became the first recipient of the Hodgkms Gold

Medal of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, for his contributions to our knowledge of the nature and properties of atmospheric air.