Editing Frederick Abel

{{Short description|English chemist (1827–1902)}}
{{For|the German physician|Friedrich Gottfried Abel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Sir Frederick Abel
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|Bt|GCVO|KCB|FRS}}
| image             = Frederick Augustus Abel2.jpg
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1827|07|17|df=y}}
| birth_place       = London, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1902|09|06|1827|07|17|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Whitehall Court]], London, England
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = English
| alma_mater        = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Westminster|Royal Polytechnic Institution]]
* [[Royal College of Chemistry]]
}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[A. W. von Hofmann]]
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Cordite]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| signature         = 
| footnotes         = 
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[Chemistry]]
| work_institutions = 
| prizes            = [[Royal Medal]] {{small|(1877)}}<br />[[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] {{small|(1891)}}
}}

'''Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Baronet''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|GCVO|KCB|FRS}} (17 July 1827<ref>The [[Chambers Biographical Dictionary]] gives his year of birth as 1826. [[Chambers Biographical Dictionary]], {{ISBN|0-550-18022-2}}, page 3.</ref>{{snd}}6 September 1902) was an English [[chemist]] who was recognised as the leading British authority on explosives. He is best known for the invention of [[cordite]] as a replacement for [[gunpowder]] in firearms.

==Education==
Born in London as son of [[Johann Leopold Abel]], Abel studied chemistry at the [[University of Westminster|Royal Polytechnic Institution]] and in 1845 became one of the original 26 students of [[A. W. von Hofmann]] at the [[Royal College of Chemistry]] (now a constituent of [[Imperial College London]]).<ref name="Greenwood-1999">{{cite book|last=Greenwood|first=Douglas|title=Who's Buried where in England|edition=Third|year=1999|publisher=Constable|isbn=0-09-479310-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/whosburiedwherei0000gree}}</ref> In 1852 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]],<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> succeeding [[Michael Faraday]],<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> who had held that post since 1829.

==Early career==
From 1854 until 1888 Abel served as ordnance chemist at the Chemical Establishment of the [[Royal Arsenal]] at Woolwich,<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> establishing himself as the leading British authority on explosives. Three years later was appointed chemist to the [[War Department (UK)|War Department]]<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> and chemical referee to the government. During his tenure of this office, which lasted until 1888, he carried out a large amount of work in connection with the chemistry of [[explosive]]s.

==Notable work==
One of the most important of his investigations had to do with the manufacture of [[guncotton]], and he developed a process, consisting essentially of reducing the nitrated cotton to fine pulp,<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> which enabled it to be safely manufactured and at the same time yielded the product in a form that increased its usefulness. This work to an important extent prepared the way for the "[[smokeless powder]]s" which came into general use towards the end of the 19th century; [[cordite]], the type adopted by the British government in 1891, was invented jointly by him and Sir [[James Dewar]].<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> He and Dewar were unsuccessfully sued by [[Alfred Nobel]] over infringement of Nobel's patent for a similar explosive called [[ballistite]], the case finally being resolved in the [[House of Lords]] in 1895. He also extensively researched the behaviour of [[black powder]] when ignited, with the Scottish [[physicist]] Sir [[Sir Andrew Noble, 1st Baronet|Andrew Noble]]. At the request of the [[British government]], he devised the [[Abel test]], a means of determining the [[flash point]] of petroleum products.<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> His first instrument, the open-test apparatus, was specified in an [[Act of Parliament]] in 1868 for officially specifying petroleum products. It was superseded in August 1879 by the much more reliable Abel close-test instrument.<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> Under his leadership, first, guncotton was developed at [[Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills]], patented in 1865, then, the propellant cordite, patented in 1889. In electricity, Abel studied the construction of electrical [[Fuse (electrical)|fuse]]s and other applications of electricity to warlike purposes.

==Leadership and honours==
He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1860 and received their [[Royal Medal]] in 1887. He was president of the [[Chemical Society]] (1875–77), of the [[Institution of Electrical Engineers]] (then the Society of Telegraph Engineers) (1877), of the [[Institute of Chemistry]] (1881–82) and of the [[Society of Chemical Industry]] (1882–83).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.soci.org/about-us/history/sci-presidents
|website=soci.org
|publisher=Society of Chemical Industry (SCI)
|title=SCI Presidents, from 1881 to today 
|access-date=22 August 2024}}</ref> He was also president of the [[Iron and Steel Institute]] in 1891<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iom3.org/iom3-presidents |title=IOM3 Presidents  |website=Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining |language=en |access-date=4 September 2018}}</ref> and was awarded the [[Bessemer Gold Medal]] in 1897 for his work on problems of steel manufacture.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iom3.org/awards-archive#Bessemer |title=Awards archive |website=Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining |language=en |access-date=4 September 2018}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Telford Medal]] by the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] in 1879.

He was made a [[Order of the Bath|Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (CB) in 1877.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=24517 |date=30 October 1877 |page=5920 }}</ref> and [[Knight bachelor|knighted]] on 20 April 1883<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25225 |date=27 April 1883 |page=2240 }}</ref> 
He took an important part in the work of the Inventions Exhibition (London) in 1885, and in 1887 became organizing secretary and first director of the [[Imperial College London|Imperial Institute]], a position he held till his death in 1902. He was [[Rede Lecturer]] and received an honorary doctorate from [[Cambridge University]] in 1888.<ref>{{acad|id= ABL888FA |name=Abel, Frederick Augustus}}</ref> He was upgraded [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (KCB) on 3 February 1891,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26131 |date=3 February 1891 |page=615 }}</ref> created a [[baronet]], of Cadogan Place in the Parish of Chelsea in the County of London, on 25 May 1893<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26406 |date=26 May 1893 |page=3055 }}</ref> and made a [[Royal Victorian Order|Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)]] on 8 March 1901.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27292 |date=8 March 1901 |page=1647}}</ref>

Abel died at his residence in [[Whitehall Court]], London, on 6 September 1902, aged 75,<ref name="The Times-1902">{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Obituary – Sir Frederick Abel |date=8 September 1902 |page=8 |issue=36867}}</ref> and was buried in [[Nunhead Cemetery]], London.<ref name="Greenwood-1999" /> The baronetcy became extinct on his death.

==Family==
Abel married twice; first to Sarah Blanch, daughter of James Blanch, of [[Bristol]]; secondly after his first wife's death to Giulietta de La Feuillade. He left no children.<ref name="The Times-1902" />
{{Infobox hereditary title
| name              = Abel baronets
| image             = [[File:Abel Escutcheon.png|220px]]
| image_size        = 220px
| alt               = 
| caption           = Escutcheon of the Abel baronets
| creation_date     = 1893<ref name="Burke-1903">{{cite book|last=Burke|first=Bernard|authorlink=Bernard Burke|editor=Ashworth P. Burke|title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage|edition=65th|year=1903|publisher=Harrison and Sons|location=London|pages=1462–3}}</ref>
| status            = extinct
| extinction_date   = 1902<ref name="Burke-1903"/>
| family_seat       = 
| former_seat       = 
| arms = Sable on a Fess engrailed between two Roses palewise Argent three Trefoils slipped Vert
| crest = In front of a Dexter Arm embowed in Armour the hand grasping a Thunderbolt a Torch fesswise fired all proper
| motto =  Ohne Rast Zum Ziel<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/index1988.htm|title=Abel (UK Baronet, 1893 – 1902}}</ref>
}}

==Books==
[[File:Abel, Frederick Augustus – Mining accidents and their prevention, 1889 – BEIC 10976127.jpg|thumb|''Mining accidents and their prevention'', 1889]]

*[https://archive.org/details/handbookofchemis00abelrich ''Handbook of Chemistry''] (with C. L. Bloxam)
*''The Modern History of Gunpowder'' (1866)<ref name="Chisholm">Chisholm (1911)</ref>
*''Gun-cotton'' (1866)<ref name="Chisholm"/>
*''On Explosive Agents'' (1872)<ref name="Chisholm"/>
*''Researches in Explosives'' (1875)<ref name="Chisholm"/>
* {{Cite book|title=Mining accidents and their prevention|publisher=Scientific publishing company|location=New York|year=1889|language=en|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=10976127}}
*''Electricity applied to Explosive Purposes'' (1898)<ref name="Chisholm"/>

He also wrote several articles in the ninth edition of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.<ref name="Chisholm"/>

==See also==
*[[Internal ballistics]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Attribution===
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus, Bart.|volume=1|page=39}}

==Further reading==
*{{Citation
  | last = Chrimes
  | first = Mike
  | contribution = Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus
  | year = 2008
  | title = [[A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers]]
  | volume = 2
  | pages = 2
  | place = London
  | publisher = Thomas Telford
}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Frederick Augustus Abel}}
* {{NPG name|name=Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Bt}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Abel baronets|Baronet]]'''<br />(of Cadogan Place)''' |years=1893–1902 }}
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{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Frederick Augustus}}
[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1902 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English chemists]]
[[Category:Cordite]]
[[Category:Ballistics experts]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Imperial College London]]
[[Category:Scientists from London]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Burials at Nunhead Cemetery]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Bessemer Gold Medal]]