Morris William Travers (January 24, 1872 Kensington, London–August 25, 1961, Stroud, Gloucestershire), the founding director of the
Indian Institute of ScienceThe Indian Institute of Science is a premier research institution of higher learning located in Bengaluru, India. It was established in 1909. According to the journal Current Science, IISc currently ranks first in India in terms of research output and quality of faculty...
, was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
chemistA 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. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component...
who worked along with Sir
William RamsaySir William Ramsay, KCB was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" .-Early years:Ramsay was...
in the discovery of
xenonXenon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Xe. Its atomic number is 54. A colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts...
,
neonNeon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in discharge tubes and neon lamps...
and
kryptonKrypton is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a member of Group 18 and Period 4 elements. A colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, krypton occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, is isolated by fractionally distilling liquified air, and is often used with other...
. His work on several of the rare gases earned him the name
Rare gas Travers in scientific circles.
Travers' father was William Travers MD, FRCS (1838-1906), an early pioneer of aseptic surgical techniques.
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Morris William Travers (January 24, 1872 Kensington, London–August 25, 1961, Stroud, Gloucestershire), the founding director of the
Indian Institute of ScienceThe Indian Institute of Science is a premier research institution of higher learning located in Bengaluru, India. It was established in 1909. According to the journal Current Science, IISc currently ranks first in India in terms of research output and quality of faculty...
, was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
chemistA 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. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component...
who worked along with Sir
William RamsaySir William Ramsay, KCB was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" .-Early years:Ramsay was...
in the discovery of
xenonXenon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Xe. Its atomic number is 54. A colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts...
,
neonNeon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in discharge tubes and neon lamps...
and
kryptonKrypton is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a member of Group 18 and Period 4 elements. A colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, krypton occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, is isolated by fractionally distilling liquified air, and is often used with other...
. His work on several of the rare gases earned him the name
Rare gas Travers in scientific circles.
Travers' father was William Travers MD, FRCS (1838-1906), an early pioneer of aseptic surgical techniques. His mother was Anne Pocock. Travers went to school at Ramsgate, Woking and
Blundell's SchoolBlundell's School is a co-educational independent boarding school located in Tiverton in the county of Devon, England...
. He then went to University College, where he began to work with Sir
William RamsaySir William Ramsay, KCB was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" .-Early years:Ramsay was...
. In 1904 he became a professor at University College. In 1901-1902 Ramsay was asked to advise the Indian government on the founding of a science institute. This institute was established in
BangaloreBangalore , also known as Bengaḷūru , is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration.Though historical references to the city predate 900...
with the help of the Government of Mysore and JN Tata. Ramsay suggested the name of Travers as a possible director for this institute and in 1906, Travers was appointed as the director of the new
Indian Institute of ScienceThe Indian Institute of Science is a premier research institution of higher learning located in Bengaluru, India. It was established in 1909. According to the journal Current Science, IISc currently ranks first in India in terms of research output and quality of faculty...
. The aim was to build the institute along the lines of the Imperial College of Science and Technology but Travers had conflicts with the Tata family especially in the interpretation of clauses in JN Tata's will. The institute was started in June 1911 with four departments General, Organic, Applied Chemistry and Electrical Engineering. He returned to Britain at the outbreak of WW I and directed the manufacture of glass at Duroglass Limited. In 1920 he started a company with F W Clark called Travers and Clark Ltd. which was involved with high-temperature furnaces and fuel technology, including the gasification of coal. In 1927 he went back to Bristol as Honorary Professor in Applied Chemistry.
Travers helped Ramsay to determine the properties of the newly discovered gases argon and helium. They also heated minerals and meteorites in the search for further gases, but found none. Then in 1898 they obtained a large quantity of liquid air and subjected it to
fractional distillationFractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions, such as in separating chemical compounds by their boiling point by heating them to a temperature at which several fractions of the compound will evaporate. It is a special type of distillation...
. Spectral analysis of the least volatile fraction revealed the presence of krypton. They examined the argon fraction for a constituent of lower boiling point, and discovered neon. Finally xenon, occurring as an even less volatile companion to krypton, was identified spectroscopically. He knew the entire research story and wrote the biography of Sir William Ramsay in 1956 "A life of Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S."
Travers continued his researches in cryogenics and made the first accurate temperature measurements of liquid gases. He also helped to build several experimental liquid air plants in Europe.
Publications
The following is a partial list of publications:
- 1893. The preparation of acetylene from calcium carbide. Proc. Chem. Soc. p. 15.
- 1894. Metallic derivatives of acetylene. I. Mercuric acetylide. Trans. Chem. Soc. p. 264.
- 1895. (With W. Ramsay and J. Norman Collie) Helium, a constituent of certain minerals. Trans. Chem. Soc. p. 684.
- 1896-1897. Some experiments on helium. Proc. Roy. Soc. 60,449.
- 1898. The origin of the gases evolved on heating mineral substances, meteorites, etc. Proc. Roy. Soc. 64, 130.
- 1898. (With W. Ramsay) n a new constituent of atmospheric air [Krypton]. Proc. Roy. Soc. 63,405.
- 1901. The liquefaction of hydrogen. Phil. Mag. (6), 1,41 1.
- 1915. (With N. M. Gupta and R. C. Ray.) Some compounds of boron, hydrogen and oxygen. London: H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd.
- 1918. On the firing of glass pots. Trans. Soc. Glass Tech. 2, 170.
- 1928. The complete gasification of coal for towns' gas. Trans. Soc. Chem. Ind. p. 203.
- 1934. On a new view of the covalent bond, and the formation of free radicals. Trans. Faraday Soc. 30, 100.
- 1956. The life of Sir William Ramsay. London: Arnold.
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