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Edward Charles Howard

 

 
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Edward Charles Howard, born 28 May 1774, the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk, died 27 September 1816 was a British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
 chemist
Chemist

A chemist is a scientist trained in the science of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density, acidity, size and shape....
, who has also been described as "the first chemical engineer
Chemical engineer

In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work....
 of any eminence.

In 1800 he was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society
Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence....
 of London for his work on mercury. He discovered mercury fulminate
Mercury(II) fulminate

Mercury fulminate, Hg2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction and shock . It is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and blasting caps....
 a powerful primary explosive. In 1813 he invented a method of refining sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
 which involved boiling the cane juice not in an open kettle, but in a closed vessel heated by steam
Steam

In physical chemistry, and in engineering, steam refers to vaporized water. It is a pure, completely invisible gaseous phase . At standard temperature and pressure, pure steam occupies about 1,600 times the volume of an equal mass of liquid water....
 and held under partial vacuum.






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Edward Charles Howard, born 28 May 1774, the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk, died 27 September 1816 was a British
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
 chemist
Chemist

A chemist is a scientist trained in the science of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density, acidity, size and shape....
, who has also been described as "the first chemical engineer
Chemical engineer

In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work....
 of any eminence.

In 1800 he was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society
Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence....
 of London for his work on mercury. He discovered mercury fulminate
Mercury(II) fulminate

Mercury fulminate, Hg2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction and shock . It is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and blasting caps....
 a powerful primary explosive. In 1813 he invented a method of refining sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
 which involved boiling the cane juice not in an open kettle, but in a closed vessel heated by steam
Steam

In physical chemistry, and in engineering, steam refers to vaporized water. It is a pure, completely invisible gaseous phase . At standard temperature and pressure, pure steam occupies about 1,600 times the volume of an equal mass of liquid water....
 and held under partial vacuum. At reduced pressure, water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
 boils at a lower temperature, and this development both saved fuel and reduced the amount of sugar lost through caramelization
Caramelization

Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, wikt:volatile chemicals are released, producing the characteristic caramel flavor....
. The invention, known as Howard's vacuum pan, is still in use. He was also interested in the composition of meteorite
Meteorite

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface. While in space it is called a meteoroid....
s especially in "natural iron
Iron meteorite

Iron meteorites consist overwhelmingly of nickel-iron alloys. The metal taken from these meteorites is known as meteoric iron and was one of the earliest sources of usable iron available to man....
" ones. He found that many contained an alloy of nickel
Nickel

Nickel is a chemical element, with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge....
 and iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
 which was not found on Earth, and thus may have fallen from the sky. A type of meteorite is known as Howardite
Howardite

Howardites are achondrite stony meteorites that originate from the surface of the asteroid 4 Vesta, and as such are part of the HED meteorite group....
.