Eric Rideal
{{Short description|British physical chemist}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sir Eric Rideal
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|FRS|FRIC}}
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| office = Professor of Physical Chemistry, King's College, London
| term_start = 1950
| term_end = 1955
| office2 = Fullerian Professor of Chemistry, Royal Institution
| term_start2 = 1946
| term_end2 = 1949
| office3 = Professor of Colloid Science, University of Cambridge
| term_start3 = 1930
| term_end3 = 1946
| birth_name = Eric Keightley Rideal
| birth_date = 11 April 1890
| birth_place = Sydenham, Kent, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1974|09|25|1890|04|11|df=yes}}
| death_place = West Kensington, London, England
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Physical chemist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| education = Trinity Hall, Cambridge
University of Bonn
}}
Sir Eric Keightley Rideal (11 April 1890 – 25 September 1974[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31608 Rideal, Sir Eric Keightley (1890–1974)] rev., D. D. Eley, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 17 February 2011) was a British physical chemist. He worked on a wide range of subjects, including electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, catalysis, electrophoresis, colloids and surface chemistry.'Biographical Notes' entry for Rideal in [https://books.google.com/books?id=01LRlPbH80cC The World of Physical Chemistry], Keith J. Laidler, 1993, p. 445 He is best known for the Eley–Rideal mechanism, which he proposed in 1938 with Daniel D. Eley.[http://www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/resources/history/people/rideal_eric.html Sir Eric Keightly Rideal], The UCL Periodic Table of the Lecturers, UCL website. Retrieved 18 February 2011 He is also known for the textbook that he authored, An Introduction to Surface Chemistry (1926), and was awarded honours for the research he carried out during both World Wars and for his services to chemistry.
Early years
Eric Keightley Rideal was born on 11 April 1890 in Sydenham, which at that time was part of the county of Kent. His father was chemist Samuel Rideal, whose work on water purification and disinfection included the Rideal–Walker test. His mother was Elizabeth Keightley, daughter of Samuel Keightley. Rideal was educated at Farnham Grammar School, Surrey, and then at Oundle School, Northamptonshire.[https://books.google.com/books?id=QlLwb3IRueMC&pg=PR13 Sir Eric K. Rideal (1890–1974)] by D. D. Eley, in Advances in Catalysis (Eley and Weisz, 1977), pp.xiii–xv In 1907 he won a scholarship in Natural Sciences to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. After graduating in 1910, he continued his studies in Germany, obtaining his PhD in chemistry in 1912 at the University of Bonn under Richard Anschütz.
When World War I broke out, Rideal was working on water supplies in Ecuador, an assignment that had come to him through his father. He returned home and enlisted with the Artists Rifles, eventually serving on the Western Front at the Somme in 1916 with the Royal Engineers. He was invalided home the same year after an outbreak of dysentery, and spent the rest of the war carrying out research in catalysis at University College London under Frederick G. Donnan.
During this period he also worked with Hugh Stott Taylor, co-authoring Catalysis in Theory and Practice (1919), described as a "seminal" work in the field.
Rideal was made MBE in 1918 for his war work.
Career and research
Following the war, Rideal went to the US in 1919 to take a position for a year as visiting professor at the University of Illinois, a position for which he had been recommended by James Kendall. He then returned to the UK to take up a fellowship at his old college (Trinity Hall), and the Humphrey Owen Jones lectureship in physical chemistry at Cambridge. It was on the return voyage from the US by ship in 1920 that he met his future wife Peggy (Margaret Atlee Jackson), whom he married the following year.The Rideals had a daughter, Mary, who married the future Lord Justice Peter Oliver, Baron Oliver of Aylmerton (see the ODNB entry)
Rideal remained at Cambridge for the next 26 years, becoming Professor of Colloid Science in 1930, the same year he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. During this time, he founded the Colloid Science Laboratory which became a world centre for surface science, and was used for war work during World War II. Rideal's students at Cambridge included the physicist and future novelist C. P. Snow, and the future Nobel laureate Ronald G. W. Norrish. Snow later depicted Rideal in two of his novels: The Search (1934) and Strangers and Brothers (1940). Rideal's career at Cambridge was disrupted by an operation in 1936 for an intestinal tumour, an operation that left him with a colectomy and dissuaded him from applying for the vacant chair of physical chemistry in 1937.
Following World War II, Rideal left Cambridge to take up the position of Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution in London (1946 to 1949). This was followed by a period at King's College London (1950 to 1955). After his retirement in 1955, Rideal took up a position as senior research fellow at Imperial College, enabling him to write the book Concepts in Catalysis (1968). It is estimated that over a period of some 60 years, Rideal authored or co-authored nearly 300 papers and a dozen books.
During his career, Rideal also gave a number of public lectures. These included the Cantor Lecture of the Royal Society of Arts (1921, 1924 and 1948). He also delivered the 1932 Robert Boyle Lecture, titled 'On some aspects of adsorption'.[https://books.google.com/books?id=iPbrGwAACAAJ On some aspects of adsorption: being the thirty-fourth Robert Boyle lecture, delivered before the Oxford University Junior Scientific Club on May 13, 1932], Sir Eric Keightley Rideal, H. Milford and Oxford University Press, 1932 In 1947, Rideal gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, entitled 'Chemical Reactions: How They Work'.{{Cite journal | last1 = Martin | first1 = T. | title = The Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution | doi = 10.1063/1.3066071 | journal = Physics Today | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 10–15 | year = 1948 |bibcode = 1948PhT.....1c..10M }}
In 1949, Rideal was one of the founding editors of the journal Advances in Catalysis.
Awards and honours
Rideal was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1951 "For his distinguished contributions to the subject of surface chemistry".[http://royalsociety.org/Content.aspx?id=3273 Davy archive winners 1989–1900], The Royal Society website. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
He was knighted in the 1951 King's Birthday Honours List for his services to the Ministry of Supply during World War II.[http://www.soci.org/About-Us/About-SCI/History/Notable-Chemists.aspx Eric Rideal], Notable Chemists section, Society of Chemical Industry website. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
Also in 1951, he delivered the Bakerian Lecture with the title 'On Reactions in Monolayers'.{{Cite journal | last1 = Rideal | first1 = E. | title = Bakerian Lecture. On Reactions in Monolayers | doi = 10.1098/rspa.1951.0217 | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences | volume = 209 | issue = 1099 | pages = 431–446| year = 1951 |bibcode = 1951RSPSA.209..431R | s2cid = 95461082 }} Between 1951 and 1967 Rideal received honorary degrees from the universities of Dublin, Birmingham, Brunel, Belfast, Turin, and Bonn.
He was President of the Faraday Society (1938 to 1945),[http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/History/rscpresidents/1944to1980.asp The Chemical Society 1944 to 1980], RCS presidents, Royal Society of Chemistry website. Retrieved 19 February 2011. the Society of Chemical Industry (1945 to 1946),[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830905297.html Rideal, Eric Keightley], Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2011 from Encyclopedia.com and the Chemical Society (1950 to 1952). He was elected a Fellow of King's College London in 1963.[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U158960 RIDEAL, Sir Eric], Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
Later years
Rideal died on 25 September 1974 in West Kensington, London.{{Cite journal | last1 = Eley | first1 = D. D. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1976.0017 | title = Eric Keightley Rideal. 11 April 1890 -- 25 September 1974 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 22 | pages = 381–413| year = 1976 | doi-access = free }} His obituary was published in The Times.Sir Eric Rideal, The Times, 27 September 1974
Legacy
Rideal's name is still honoured today, with bursaries, grants, lectures and conferences named for him. The travel bursaries are administered jointly in the form of the Rideal Trust by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry.[http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Funding/TravelGrants/RidealTravelBursaries.asp Sir Eric Rideal Travel Bursaries], Royal Society of Chemistry website. Retrieved 18 February 2011
The Tadion–Rideal Prize for Molecular Science is an annual grant awarded by King's College London since 1983.[http://www.rdfunding.org.uk/queries/ListGrantDetails.asp?GrantID=12664 Tadion Rideal Prize Details] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726004017/http://www.rdfunding.org.uk/queries/ListGrantDetails.asp?GrantID=12664 |date=26 July 2011 }}, University of London, RDfunding.org.uk website. Retrieved 17 February 2011
The Sir Eric Rideal Lecture is a lectureship awarded every year since 1970 by the Society of Chemical Industry.[http://www.soci.org/Awards/Technical-Group-Awards/Rideal-Lecture Sir Eric Rideal Lecture], Society of Chemical Industry website. Retrieved 18 February 2011
The Rideal Conference is a triennial UK research conference on surface science and catalysis.[http://www.nacatsoc.org/history.asp?HistoryID=3 Sir Eric Rideal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727105442/http://www.nacatsoc.org/history.asp?HistoryID=3 |date=27 July 2011 }}, North American Catalysis Society website. Retrieved 17 February 2011 It started in 1962 as the Chemisorption and Catalysis Conference and was renamed in his honour in 1971, with the 19th conference scheduled to take place in March 2018.[http://www.ukcatalysishub.co.uk/events/rideal_conference_2018 2018 Rideal Conference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213204851/http://www.ukcatalysishub.co.uk/events/rideal_conference_2018 |date=13 December 2017 }}, conference website, Catalysis Hub. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
Selected works
- Catalysis in Theory and Practice (1919, co-author)
- Industrial electrometallurgy (1919)
- Ozone (1920)
- An Introduction to Surface Chemistry (1926)
- Interfacial Phenomena (1963, co-author)
- Concepts in Catalysis (1968)
- Sixty Years of Chemistry (1970)
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=Eric Rideal}}
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw70519 Sir Eric Keightley Rideal, portrait circa 1922] (National Portrait Gallery)
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=QlLwb3IRueMC&pg=PR12 Sir Eric Keightley Rideal, portrait in later life] (Advances in Catalysis, 1977)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101019070403/http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000000037 Eric Keightley Rideal (1890–1974)] (Biography page at the Royal Institution)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110727220302/http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000003112 Eric Keightley Rideal] (Archives page at the Royal Institution)
- [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=735&inst_id=17&nv1=search&nv2= Eric Rideal Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330120049/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=735&inst_id=17&nv1=search&nv2= |date=30 March 2012 }} (AIM25 listing of the collection at the Royal Institution)
- [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P24263 Rideal, Sir Eric Keightley (1890–1974) Knight Physical Chemist] (The National Archives)
- [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1974Natur.252Q.621. Sir Eric Rideal] (Obituary published in Nature)
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Category:English physical chemists
Category:People from Sydenham, London
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:People educated at Oundle School
Category:Academics of King's College London
Category:Fellows of King's College London
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:John Humphrey Plummer Professors