Arthur Aikin

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Arthur Aikin
Warrington, Lancashire, England
Died15 April 1854(1854-04-15) (aged 80)
Hoxton, Middlesex, England
NationalityBritish
Known forGeological Society of London
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry

Arthur Aikin

FGS (19 May 1773 – 15 April 1854) was an English chemist, mineralogist and scientific writer, and was a founding member of the Chemical Society (now the Royal Society of Chemistry). He first became its treasurer in 1841,[1] and later became the society's second president.[2]

Life

He was born at

woman of letters who wrote poetry and essays as well as early children's literature. His father, Dr John Aikin, was a medical doctor, historian, and author. His grandfather, also called John (1713–1780), was a Unitarian scholar and theological tutor, closely associated with Warrington Academy. His sister Lucy (1781–1864) was a historical writer. Their brother Charles Rochemont Aikin
was adopted by their famous aunt and brought up as their cousin.

Arthur Aikin studied chemistry under

Society of Arts and later was elected as a fellow. He was founder of the Chemical Society
of London in 1841, being its first treasurer and, between 1843 and 1845, second president.

In order to support himself, outside of his work with the British Mineralogical Society, the London Institution and the Geological Society, Aiken worked as a writer, translator and lecturer to the public and to medical students at Guy's Hospital. His writing and journalism were useful for publicising foreign scientific news to the wider British public. He was also a member of the

Linnean Society and in 1820 joined the Institution of Civil Engineers
.

He was highly esteemed as a man of sound judgement[3] and wide knowledge. Aikin never married, and died at Hoxton in London in 1854.[1]

Publications

For Rees's Cyclopædia he wrote articles about chemistry, geology and mineralogy, but the topics are not known.

References

  1. ^
    S2CID 130452589. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Arthur Aiken". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aikin, Arthur". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 437.

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Arthur Aikin.
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