Alfred Smee facts for kids
Alfred Smee (born June 18, 1818, died January 11, 1877) was an amazing English surgeon, chemist, and inventor. He was also very interested in electricity and loved growing orchids!
Smee was born in Camberwell. His father, William Smee, worked as the main accountant for the Bank of England. Alfred went to St Paul's School, London and later studied medicine at King's College, London. While he was a student, he lived at his father's home inside the Bank of England. This is where he started doing research on chemistry and how to use electricity to work with metals. This research made him quite famous later on!
After King's College, he went to St Bartholomew's Hospital. He became a helper to a famous surgeon, Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet. In 1840, he officially became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Contents
Smee's Inventions and Discoveries
Alfred Smee became a surgeon at the London Institution. He focused on treating eye diseases. But he didn't stop his science experiments! He kept working on chemistry and electro-metallurgy.
What was Smee's Battery?
One of his most famous inventions was the Smee's battery. This battery used a zinc plate and a silver plate coated with something called platinum black. These plates sat in sulphuric acid. This invention was so important that he won a gold medal for it!
In 1840, he wrote an important book about electro-metallurgy. This book explained how to use electricity to separate and work with different metals.
Working for the Bank of England
In 1841, Alfred Smee became the surgeon for the Bank of England. This job was created just for him because people knew how smart he was. He used his scientific skills to help the bank.
- New Ink: In 1842, he invented a special writing ink that lasted a very long time.
- Printing Bank Notes: In 1854, he worked with other experts to improve how bank notes and checks were printed. They made changes to the notes so they couldn't be easily split apart or copied. He even gave a talk about his new way of printing bank notes using electrotypes.
Other Scientific Work
Alfred Smee was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1841. This is a very important group for scientists. He also became a surgeon at the Royal General Dispensary in Aldersgate Street.
His 1849 book, Elements of Electro-Biology, was a big step forward in understanding how electricity works in living things. He later wrote a simpler version called Instinct and Reason. At the London Institution, he also helped start a system of educational lectures in 1854 that lasted for a long time.
Later Life and Hobbies
Alfred Smee is known for being the first person in the northern part of the world to see the Great Comet of 1861. He saw it on June 29, 1861. This comet had been discovered earlier in the southern part of the world.
Later in his life, Smee had a special experimental garden. It was located in Wallington, Surrey. This garden was quite large, covering almost 8 acres of land and water!
Family Life
Alfred Smee married Elizabeth Hutchison in London in 1840. They had three children: a son and two daughters.
- Their daughter, Elizabeth Mary Smee, later wrote a book about her father's life in 1878.
- Their son, Alfred Hutchison Smee, also became a doctor. He loved growing orchids, just like his father! A type of orchid, Saccolabium smeeanum, was even named after him.
Selected publications
- Elements of Electro-Metallurgy, London, 1840; 2nd edition 1843; 3rd edition 1851, translated into Welsh, 1852.
- On the Detection of Needles … impacted in the Human Body, London, 1845.
- The Potatoe Plant, its Uses and Properties, 1847.
- Elements of Electro-Biology, London, 1849
- Vision in Health and Disease, &c., London, 1847; 2nd edition 1854.
- A Sheet of Instructions as to the proper Treatment of Accidents and Emergencies, 1850; 10th edition undated; translated into French, Paris, 1872, and into German, Berlin, undated.
- The Process of Thought Adapted to Words and Language. Together with a description of the relational and differential machines, London, 1851.
- My Garden; its Plan and Culture London, 1872.
