:Muriel Chapman

{{short description|English chemist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Muriel Catherine Canning Chapman

| birth_date = 16 September 1894

| birth_place = Rampisham, Dorset

| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|3|23|1894|9|16|df=y}}

| death_place = Oxford

| fields = Chemistry

| academic_advisors = D. L. Chapman

}}

Muriel Catherine Canning Chapman (née Holmes) (16 September 1894 – 23 March 1988) was a British chemist. She was one of the first female chemists at the University of Oxford, having matriculated there in 1920, the first year that women were permitted to do so. She was awarded a B.Sc. in 1923. She had already been awarded a B.Sc. from Royal Holloway College in 1916.{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32364|title=Chapman, David Leonard (1869–1958), physical chemist|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32364|access-date=2020-04-27}} Her research was in chemical kinetics,{{Cite journal|last1=Chapman|first1=David L.|last2=Chapman|first2=Muriel C. C.|date=1937|title=420. Experiments on the combination of nitrogen peroxide and nitric oxide in the absence of moisture|url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1937/jr/jr9370001991|journal=Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed)|language=en|pages=1991–1992|doi=10.1039/JR9370001991|issn=0368-1769|url-access=subscription}} and was carried out in conjunction with her husband, David Chapman.

Chapman was the daughter of Samuel Holmes, a sometime theology lecturer at Jesus College, Oxford. She was educated at the Oxford High School for Girls before going to Royal Holloway. She then returned to Oxford and worked at the Leoline Jenkins Laboratory at Jesus College. In 1917 she became a member of the Society of Oxford Home-Students, which later became St. Anne's College.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-02/JCP175.pdf|title=Scientific Papers of Muriel Chapman (Née Holmes), 1920s-1930s|publisher=Jesus College, Oxford|access-date=27 Apr 2020}}

After about 1927, she became active in the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports and was secretary of the Oxford branch throughout its existence.{{Cite book|last=Thomas, Richard H.|title=The politics of hunting|date=1983|publisher=Gower|isbn=0-566-00614-6|location=Aldershot, Hants, England|pages=115|oclc=18782064}}