Experimental chemistry of gases · 1852–1916
William Ramsay
Ramsay trained in Glasgow and Tübingen and worked at Bristol and University College London. His laboratory skill helped turn Rayleigh’s nitrogen discrepancy into the identification of argon. He also recovered helium on Earth and, with Morris Travers, identified neon, krypton, and xenon. The resulting family expanded the periodic table. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and placement of these gases.
Contribution & context
His contribution joined chemical separation with physical characterization. Argon was shared work with Rayleigh; the later gas discoveries also depended on collaborators rather than Ramsay alone.
William Ramsay: ChemistTreasures from UCL: William Ramsay’s laboratory notebook
Discoveries in context
The missing ingredients of ordinary air ↗
A small density discrepancy opened a new column of the periodic table through the combined work of physicists and chemists.
Sources & further reading
- William Ramsay: Chemist ↗English HeritageHistorical account · Source checked
- Treasures from UCL: William Ramsay’s laboratory notebook ↗University College LondonHistorical account · Source checked Where to look: Entry on Ramsay's laboratory notebook; printed p. 168 is identified by the book's own internal cross-reference.The locator was checked in indexed source text. The printed-page cross-reference is identified; PDF viewer pagination is unverified.
Sources and further reading. What the review labels mean