Sir William Crookes is remembered in the scientific community as a prominent British chemist and physicist. Learn more at london1.one.
William invented the Crookes tube, which fundamentally changed science. He also created the lens for sunglasses with absolute protection against ultraviolet rays.
His whole life was closely connected with science and was characterised by incredible diligence and high intelligence. The originality of his works made him an excellent and recognised scientific experimenter.
Beginning of the story
William Crookes was born in London in 1832.
When William turned 16 in 1848, he became a student at the Royal College of Chemistry. There, he studied organic chemistry.
At the end of the first year, William managed to win an Ashburton scholarship and covered his further education with that money.
Later, William began to assist August Wilhelm von Hofmann. In the autumn of 1851, he was promoted to senior assistant and held the position until 1854.
Scientific interests
Crookes had a deep respect for Hofman, but he didn’t share the latter’s main interest in organic chemistry.
William was very interested in optics and photography. Therefore, he conducted a lot of research in these areas.
Later, he became interested in studying the compounds of selenium. It was the subject of his debut scientific articles published in 1851. In 1855, Crookes was appointed a lecturer at the Chester Diocesan College.
In 1859, William Crookes founded the scientific publication Chemical News.
Successful experiments
Crookes was an incredibly talented scientific experimenter.
His first important discovery was thallium. It was made using flame spectroscopy.
The scientist named the new element, distinguished by a bright green emission line of the spectrum, thallium.
Important work
William is also the developer of the Crookes tube. This invention was made thanks to the research of cathode rays.
Subsequently, the scientist published articles describing spectroscopy.
William discovered an interesting fact while conducting research on the conduction of electrical energy in low-pressure gas. When the pressure level decreases, a negative electrode emits a bright light, the cathode rays.
Discoverer
William was one of the first to design and use vacuum tubes. They helped him study physical phenomena.
Thanks to this, he managed to study plasma, the fourth state of matter.
In addition, Crookes is the inventor of the spinthariscope. This is a device for studying nuclear radioactivity.
Discovery that changed science
Thanks to his numerous studies of the cathode rays’ properties, William managed to prove that they were distinguished by rectilinear propagation. In addition, when interacting with certain substances, these rays cause fluorescence, which, in turn, leads to the generation of a large amount of heat.
He also managed to discover the fourth state of matter.
William believed each ray to be a stream of particles of ordinary molecular magnitude.
Crookes’ experimental work underlies many other scientific breakthroughs.
Photo source: wikipedia