William Irvine (chemist)

William Irvine FRSE (1743-1787) was an 18th-century British doctor and chemist who served as assistant to Joseph Black in many of his important experiments. He twice served as President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow: 1775 to 1777 and 1783 to 1785.

Life

He was born in Glasgow in 1743 the son of Michael Irvine, a merchant. He studied at the High School in Glasgow.

He entered Glasgow University in 1756 and studied Medicine and Chemistry under Joseph Black. Black later chose Irvine to assist him in his experiments on latent heat. Irvine graduated MD around 1763 and then did further postgraduate studies in London and Paris. In 1766 he returned to Glasgow University to begin lecturing on Materia Medica. In 1770 he succeeded John Robison as Professor of Chemistry (Robison having replaced Black in 1766).[1]

In 1783 he was a co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The focus of his work was upon industrial chemistry with a special interest in glass production. He caught a severe fever whilst visiting a Glasgow glassworks which he owned. He died as a result of this on 9 July 1787.

Family

He was married to Grace Hamilton by whom he had one son, also William Irvine (1776–1811). His son followed in his footsteps and was also an industrial chemist and a physician. In the Napoleonic Wars he served as an Army Physician in both Malta and Sicily. In 1806 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were James Russell, James Hamilton and John Playfair.[2]

Creating works based on his father’s writings he wrote Essays Chiefly on Chemical Subjects in 1805.

He died of fever on Malta on 23 May 1811.

References

1. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Irvine, William (1743-1787)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.