Editing Thomas Graham (chemist)

{{Short description|British chemist (1805–1869)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Thomas Graham
| image             = Thomas Graham.jpg
| alt               = Lithograph portrait of Thomas Graham in 1856
| caption           = Graham in 1856
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1805|12|21}}
| birth_place       = [[Glasgow]], Scotland
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1869|9|16|1805|12|20}}
| death_place       = London, England
| field             = [[Chemistry]]
| work_institutions = {{unbulleted list|[[University of Strathclyde|Anderson's Institution]] |[[University College London]]}}
| alma_mater        = [[University of Glasgow]]<br>[[University of Edinburgh]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = {{unbulleted list|[[Graham's law]] |[[Kidney dialysis|Dialysis]]}}
| prizes            = {{unbulleted list|[[Royal Medal]] (1838, 1850) |[[Copley Medal]] (1862)}}
| religion          = 
| footnotes         = 
| signature         = Thomas Graham (chemist) signature.png
}}
'''Thomas Graham''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSE|DCL}} (20 December 1805<ref>{{Cite web|title = Thomas Graham {{!}} British chemist|url = http://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Graham|website = Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date = 24 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB|title = Thomas Graham {{!}} British chemist|url = https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-11224|year = 2004|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/11224| access-date = 25 November 2019|last1 = Stanley|first1 = Michael}}</ref> – 11 September 1869) was a Scottish [[chemist]] known for his pioneering work in [[dialysis (biochemistry)|dialysis]] and the [[diffusion]] of gases. He is regarded as one of the founders of [[colloid]] chemistry.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Colloid {{!}} Physics|url = https://www.britannica.com/science/colloid|website = Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date = 16 September 2018}}</ref>

==Life==
Graham was born in [[Glasgow]], Scotland and was educated at the [[High School of Glasgow]]. Graham's father was a successful textile manufacturer, and wanted his son to enter into the [[Church of Scotland]]. Instead, defying his father's wishes, Graham became a student at the [[University of Glasgow]] in 1819. There he developed a strong interest in [[chemistry]], studying under [[Thomas Thomson (chemist)|Professor Thomas Thomson]], who was impressed and influenced by the young man. He left the university after receiving his MA in 1824.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|year=2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |archive-date=24 January 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

He later studied medicine at the [[University of Edinburgh]] and then briefly taught chemistry at the [[Glasgow University]] Portland Street Medical School.  In 1828 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], his proposer was Edward Turner. He won the Society's [[Keith Medal]] for the period 1831–33.<ref name=":0" />

in 1830 he was appointed to be the first professor of chemistry at the [[University of Strathclyde|Anderson's Medical School]], a post later named the Freeland Chair of Chemistry. He also delivered lectures to the [[University of Strathclyde|Glasgow Mechanics' Institution]] before moving to take up a professorship at the [[University of London]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williamson |first1=Alexander |date=4 November 1869 |title=The Late Professor Graham |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_nature-uk_1869-11-04_1_1/page/20/mode/2up?view=theater |journal=Nature |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=20–22 |doi= 10.1038/001020a0|bibcode=1869Natur...1...20W |access-date=17 December 2023}}</ref> where Graham founded the [[Chemical Society of London]] in 1841. In 1866, he was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].

His final position was the [[Master of the Mint]], where he stayed from 1855 until his death. He was the last person to hold that position:<ref name="Ghosh2009"/> afterwards the post was amalgamated into the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] while all the actual responsibilities were transferred to the Deputy Master.

He died in [[Gordon Square]] in London but his body was returned to Glasgow for burial in the family plot at [[Glasgow Cathedral]].<ref name=":0" />

==Publications==
*''On the Law of Diffusion of Gases'' (1833)

==Scientific works==

{{expand section|further information, based on verifiable sources, elaborating on Graham's laws, and extending the information on Graham's contributions|small=no|date=July 2015}}
Thomas Graham is known for his studies on the behavior of gases, which resulted in his formulation of two relationships, both since becoming known as "Graham's laws," the first regarding gas [[diffusion]],<ref name="Cussler2009">{{cite book|author=E. L. Cussler|title=Diffusion: Mass Transfer in Fluid Systems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dq6LdJyN8ScC&pg=PA13|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-87121-1|pages=13–}}</ref> and the second regarding gas [[effusion]].<ref name="Trefil2003">{{cite book|author=James S. Trefil|title=The Nature of Science: An A–Z Guide to the Laws and Principles Governing Our Universe|url=https://archive.org/details/natureofsciencea00tref|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-618-31938-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/natureofsciencea00tref/page/187 187]–}}</ref> In the former case, Graham deduced that when measured repeatedly under the same conditions of pressure and temperature, the rate of diffusive mixing of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its density, and given the relationship between [[density]] and [[molar mass]], also inversely proportional to the square root of its [[molar mass]].{{clarify|date=July 2015}}{{dubious|date=July 2015}} In the same way, in the latter case, regarding [[effusion]] of a gas through a pin hole in to a vacuum, Graham deduced that the rate of [[effusion]] of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its molar mass. These two are sometimes referred to as a combined law (describing both phenomena).

In applied areas, Graham also made fundamental discoveries related to [[dialysis (biochemistry)|dialysis]], a process used in research and industrial settings, as well as in modern health care. Graham's study of [[colloids]] resulted in his ability to separate colloids and crystalloids using a so-called "dialyzer", using technology that is a rudimentary forerunner of technology in modern [[kidney dialysis]] machines. These studies were foundational in the field known as [[colloid]] [[chemistry]], and Graham is credited as one of its founders.<ref name="Ghosh2009">{{cite book|author=Pallab Ghosh|title=Colloid and Interface Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5j3jt06Fcs8C&pg=PA1|year=2009|publisher=PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.|isbn=978-81-203-3857-9|pages=1–}}</ref>

He also proposed the [[association theory]] which claimed that the substances such as [[cellulose]] or [[starch]] that we now know are polymers are composed from smaller molecules hold together by unknown forces. It remained the most popular explanation until [[Hermann Staudinger]]'s [[macromolecular]] theory of 1920s.

==Honours, activities, and recognition==
[[File:George Square, Statue Of Thomas Graham.jpg|thumb|Statue of Graham in [[George Square]], Glasgow]]
* Elected an Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] (1828) receiving its [[Keith Medal]] for 1831–33
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (1836)
* First President of the [[Chemical Society|Chemical Society of London]] (1841)
* [[Royal Medal]] of the [[Royal Society]] (1837 and 1863)
* Honorary doctorate (DCL) from the [[University of Oxford]] (1853)
*[[Copley Medal]] of the Royal Society (1862)
* Prix Jecker of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1862)
* A statue of Graham, sculpted by [[William Brodie (sculptor)|William Brodie]] in [[George Square]] in Glasgow was erected by the city in 1872<ref>[https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB32705 George Square Thomas Graham Statue], [[Historic Environment Scotland]]</ref>
* The [[Royal College of Science and Technology]] (the successor of Anderson's Institution, where Graham once worked, which ultimately became the [[University of Strathclyde]]), named its new Chemistry building the ''Thomas Graham Building'' in 1962.
* The headquarters of the [[Royal Society of Chemistry]] in [[Cambridge]], England is named ''Thomas Graham House''

==See also==
* [[Graham's law]]
* [[Gaseous diffusion]]
* [[Kidney dialysis|Dialysis]]
* [[Colloid]]
* [[Fick's laws of diffusion]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{Commons category|Thomas Graham (chemist)}}
* {{cite journal | author = Graham, Thomas | title = Researches on the Arseniates, Phosphates, and Modifications of Phosphoric Acid | journal = Philosophical Transactions | year = 1833 | pages = 253–284 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H4U6AAAAMAAJ&q=thomas+graham |access-date = 20 March 2008 | volume = 123 | doi = 10.1098/rstl.1833.0015 | publisher = The Alembic club| doi-access = free }}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Graham, Thomas |volume = 12 |last= |first= |author-link= |pages=318-319 |short=1}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050828071813/http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/chemistry/institutes/1992/Graham.html Biography]
* [http://www.nature.com/nature/first/professorgraham.html Obituary from ''Nature''] by [[A. W. Williamson]]
* [https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/3e818889-2650-39a1-a5ab-a57933213f58 Papers of Thomas Graham]
* [https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/9bad1cea-2935-3892-aa63-b982d67cc079 Records of Glasgow Mechanics' Institution / College of Science and Arts]

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{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir John Herschel, 1st Baronet|Sir John Herschel, Bt]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Master of the Mint]]|years=1855–1869 }}
{{s-non|reason=Office abolished<br>{{small|''[[Robert Lowe]] as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]''}}}}
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{{Masters of the Mint}}
{{Copley Medallists 1851-1900}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Thomas}}
[[Category:1805 births]]
[[Category:1869 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Glasgow]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish chemists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of Strathclyde]]
[[Category:Masters of the Mint]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People educated at the High School of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]