Alexander Smith (chemist)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named Alexander Smith, see Alexander Smith (disambiguation).

Alexander Smith
Munich University
SpouseSarah Bowles (married 1905)
ChildrenWilliam Bowles Smith
Isabella Carter Smith
AwardsKeith Medal
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Edinburgh
Wabash College
University of Chicago
Columbia University
Signature

Prof Alexander Smith

America
.

Biography

He was born at 4 Nelson Street in Edinburgh's New Town,[1] the son of Isabella (née Carter) and Alexander W. Smith, a music teacher. His paternal grandfather was the sculptor Alexander Smith.[2] The family moved to 4 West Castle Road in the Merchiston district while he was young.[3]

He was educated at

University of Munich under Prof Rainer Ludwig Claisen in Baeyer's laboratory in 1889.[5]

In 1890, aged 25, he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Alexander Crum Brown, John Gibson, Leonard Dobbin and Ralph Stockman. In 1911 the Society awarded him its Keith Medal for the period 1909–1911.[6]

After moving to the United States, Smith was

National Academy of Sciences
in 1915.

In 1919 the University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD).

He retired due to ill-health in 1921 and returned home to Edinburgh, where he died on 8 September 1922.

Family

In 1905 he married Sarah Ludden, a widow (née Sarah Bowles) from Memphis, Tennessee.[7] They had one son, William Bowles Smith, and one daughter, Isabella Carter Smith.[8]

Publications

  • Asteroids and Their Origin (1885)
  • Laboratory Outline of General Chemistry (1899)
  • The Teaching of Chemistry and Physics (1902), with Prof. E. H. Hall
  • Introduction to General Inorganic Chemistry (1906; second edition, 1912)
  • General Chemistry for Colleges (1908; revised edition, 1916)
  • A Text-Book of Elementary Chemistry (1914)

References

  1. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1865
  2. JSTOR 20023011
    .
  3. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1875
  4. ^ Nature (magazine) obituary 22 September 1922
  5. ^ "Biographical Index" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  6. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences" (PDF). nasonline.org. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  8. ^ Illinois Biographical Dictionary
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
    New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help
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