M. M. Pattison Muir
Encyclopedia
Matthew Moncrieff Pattison Muir, FRSE, FCS
Chemical Society
The Chemical Society was formed in 1841 as a result of increased interest in scientific matters....

 (1848–1931) was a chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

 and author. He taught chemistry at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...

 and was head of the Caius Laboratory there. Although he published some research on bismuth
Bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...

 compounds, he became known through his textbooks and history of science works.

Biography

Born in Glasgow, Muir studied at the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

 and Tübingen University. For a short period after his studies, he was a Demonstrator
Demonstrator
A demonstrator may be:* A person performing a demonstration, such as to explain science or technology* An attendee at a political rally* A device or object used to perform a demonstration...

 at Anderson's College, Glasgow in Sir Edward Thorpe
Thomas Edward Thorpe
Sir Thomas Edward Thorpe, often called Edward Thorpe, was a British chemist.Born in Harpurhey, Manchester, Thorpe originally worked as a clerk, but in 1863 began working as an assistant to Henry Roscoe, a professor of chemistry at Owen's College...

's laboratory, and also at Owens College, Manchester under Sir Henry Roscoe. In 1877 he was appointed Praelector
Praelector
A praelector is a traditional role at the colleges of the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. The role differs between the two universities.At Cambridge, a praelector is a fellow of a college...

 at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and in 1881 elected a Fellow of the college. He then became head of the Caius Laboratory here, a position he held until 1908, when he retired.

At Cambridge, between 1876 and 1888, Muir lead the research on bismuth
Bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...

 compounds, resulting in 18 papers published by him alone or together with his students in the Journal of the Chemical Society
Journal of the Chemical Society
The Journal of the Chemical Society was a scientific journal established by the Chemical Society in 1849 as the Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society. The journal underwent several renamings, splits, and mergers throughout its history. In 1980, the Chemical Society merged with several other...

. His coauthors were all young graduates, because there were no postgraduate students in chemistry at Cambridge then. He became better known as a writer than researcher though, through his numerous textbooks and history of chemistry treatises. The most successful textbook of Muir was his Principles of Chemistry, which he first published in 1884, and as a second edition in 1889.

In the long running water controversy (19th century to early 20th century), Muir's books Heroes of Science: Chemists (1883) and History of Chemical Theories and Laws (1907) have been noted among the few British books to properly credit Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...

 (as opposed to Henry Cavendish
Henry Cavendish
Henry Cavendish FRS was a British scientist noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper "On Factitious Airs". Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and...

) for proposing that water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 was a chemical compound
Chemical compound
A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

 rather than an element
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...

. In a 1993 book, historian of science Mary Jo Nye
Mary Jo Nye
Mary Jo Nye is an American historian of science and retired faculty member of the History Department at Oregon State University.-Career:...

 described Muir's chapter on affinity
Chemical affinity
In chemical physics and physical chemistry, chemical affinity is the electronic property by which dissimilar chemical species are capable of forming chemical compounds...

 from his History of Chemical Theories and Laws as "still valuable treatment of the topic".

Books

  • A History of Chemical Theories and Laws, 1907
  • The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry, 1902
  • The Story of Wanderings of Atoms, especially those of Carbon, 1899 (publisher George Newnes
    George Newnes
    Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet was a publisher and editor in England.-Background and education:...

    )
  • The Story of the Chemical Elements, 1897
  • The Chemistry of Fire, 1893
  • The Elements of Thermal Chemistry, 1885
  • A Treatise on the Principles of Chemistry, 1884, 2nd edition in 1889
  • Heroes of Science: Chemists, 1883

External links

  • Works at Open Library
    Open Library
    Open Library is an online project intended to create “one web page for every book ever published”. Open Library is a project of the non-profit Internet Archive and has been funded in part by a grant from the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin Foundation.-Books for the blind and...

  • On certain bismuth compounds, an article Muir published in Journal of the Chemical Society
    Journal of the Chemical Society
    The Journal of the Chemical Society was a scientific journal established by the Chemical Society in 1849 as the Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society. The journal underwent several renamings, splits, and mergers throughout its history. In 1980, the Chemical Society merged with several other...

    , volume 32, 1877.
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