Dewar_James_flask

August 6, 2018 by Alexander Meldrum

Photo 1135 of 6615
Previous
Next

Sir James Dewar Sir James Dewar FRS FRSE (20 September 1842 – 27 March 1923) was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction with research into the liquefaction of gases. He was also studied atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than 25 years. James Dewar was born in Kincardine, Perthshire (now in Fife) in 1842, the youngest of six boys of Ann Dewar and Thomas Dewar, a vintner. He was educated at Kincardine Parish School and then Dollar Academy. His parents died when he was 15. He attended the University of Edinburgh where he studied chemistry under Lyon Playfair (later Baron Playfair), becoming Playfair's personal assistant. Dewar also studied under August Kekulé at Ghent. He married Helen Rose Banks in 1871. They had no children. Helen was sister-in-law to both Charles Dickson, Lord Dickson and James Douglas Hamilton Dickson. His nephew, Dr Thomas William Dewar FRSE (1861–1931) was an amateur artist, who painted a portrait of Sir James Dewar. He is presumably also the same Thomas William Dewar as mentioned as executor in James Dewar's will, ultimately replaced "unopposed" by Dewar's wife. Honours and awards A street sign in the Kings Buildings complex in Edinburgh in memory of James Dewar Whilst Dewar was never recognised by the Swedish Academy, he was recognised by many other institutions both before and after his death, in Britain and overseas. The Royal Society elected him a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1877 and bestowed their Rumford (1894), Davy (1909), and Copley Medal (1916) medals upon him for his work, as well as inviting him to deliver their Bakerian Lecture in 1901. In 1899, he became the first recipient of the Hodgkins gold medal of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, for his contributions to the knowledge of the nature and properties of atmospheric air. In 1904, he was the first British subject to receive the Lavoisier Medal of the French Academy of Sciences, and in 1906, he was the first to be awarded the Matteucci Medal of the Italian Society of Sciences. He was knighted in 1904 and awarded the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize for 1900–1904 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 1908, he was awarded the Albert Medal of The Society of Arts. A lunar crater was named in his honour. A street within the Kings Buildings complex of the University of Edinburgh was named in memory of Dewar in the early 21st century. Go to Wikipedia for Career History.

View Less

Report this photo