Thomas Richardson (chemist) facts for kids

Thomas Richardson (1816–1867) was an English scientist who worked with chemicals in factories. He was also a historian who wrote about how industries grew. He was a member of important scientific groups like the Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Early Life and Education

Thomas Richardson was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, on October 8, 1816. He went to school there. Around 1830, he started studying chemistry at Glasgow University. His teacher was Professor Thomas Thomson.

Later, Richardson traveled to the University of Giessen in Germany. There, he worked with Professor Justus von Liebig. He studied how coal was made and how to use a chemical called lead chromate in his research. He earned a special degree called a Ph.D., which means "Doctor of Philosophy." After that, he went to Paris with Thomson to finish his studies with Jules Pelouze.

Working with Chemicals and Inventions

When Richardson returned to Newcastle, he became an expert in making chemicals for factories. He created several new methods and got patents for them. A patent is like a special permission that protects an invention.

In 1840, he started a process at Blaydon, near Newcastle. He found a way to clean "hard" lead, which had impurities like antimony. He used a stream of air blown over the melted metal. The impurities would float to the top and could be removed. This turned the "hard" lead into "soft" lead. Later, George Burnett made this process even better. This led to thousands of tons of lead being cleaned in the Tyne area each year.

In 1844, Richardson also began making superphosphates at Blaydon. These are special chemicals used as fertilizers to help plants grow. Another scientist, John Lawes, had already started making them in southern England.

In 1848, Richardson got another patent for a way to collect "lead-fume" using steam. Lead-fume is a type of smoke or gas that comes from lead. This method helped to reduce pollution.

Teaching and Recognition

In 1848, Richardson started teaching chemistry at the Newcastle school of medicine and surgery. A few years later, in 1851, the school changed. He joined the new school, which became connected with the University of Durham.

In 1856, Durham University made him a chemistry lecturer. They also gave him a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree. Richardson became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1864. In 1866, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. These are very important scientific groups. He was also a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Thomas Richardson passed away suddenly in Wigan on July 10, 1867.

His Published Works

Thomas Richardson wrote many important scientific papers and books.

• In 1838, he worked with Pelouze on a study about how water reacts with a chemical called cyanogen.
• From 1847 to 1851, he helped translate a book called Technological Chemistry by Friedrich Ludwig Knapp. He worked with Edmund Ronalds and later with Henry Watts. This book became a very important guide for chemists.
• In 1855, he started gathering information about the history of chemical industries in the Tyne area. He worked with Thomas John Taylor and other scientists. They published two reports and a book called The Industrial Resources of … the Tyne, Wear, and Tees in 1864.
• He also published reports with William Armstrong and James Longridge. These reports were about using "steam coals" from Northumberland in steam-boilers. They did many experiments to find the best types of coal.

Richardson wrote fifteen of his own scientific papers and six more with other researchers. These papers covered many different chemical topics.