Katharine Isabella Williams
{{short description|British chemist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Katharine Isabella Williams
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| birth_date = c. 1848
| birth_place = Llanvapley, Monmouthshire
| death_date = 16 January 1917
| death_place = Bristol
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| citizenship = United Kingdom
| nationality = British
| fields = Food analysis
| workplaces = University College Bristol
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| academic_advisors = William Ramsay
| notable_students =
| known_for = Signatory to 1904 petition to join the Chemistry Society
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| education = King Edward VI High School for Girls, University College Bristol
}}
Katharine Isabella Williams (c. 1848 - 16 January 1917) was a British chemist who became a student, aged 29, at University College Bristol. She was known for her collaboration in the 1880s with Nobel prize winning Scottish chemist, William Ramsay and was also one of the signatories of the 1904 petition for the admission of women to the Chemical Society.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yD_XlVSwJbcC&q=chemistry+was+their+life|title=Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneering British Women Chemists, 1880-1949|last1=Rayner-Canham|first1=Marelene F.|last2=Rayner-Canham|first2=Geoffrey|date=2008|publisher=Imperial College Press|isbn=9781860949876|language=en}}
Life
File:University College Bristol.gif
Katharine Williams was born at Llanvapley in Monmouthshire, daughter of Thomas Williams, later Dean of Llandaff. She was educated at King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham. She resided for much of her life with her elder sister Elizabeth at Llandaff House, 1 Pembroke Vale, in Clifton, Bristol, where she died in 1917.
Research
She worked with William Ramsay on studies of atmospheric gases, before moving on to conduct her own research in food analysis.{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Katharine I.|date=1897-01-01|title=LXVI.—The composition of cooked fish|url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1897/ct/ct8977100649|journal=Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions|language=en|volume=71|pages=649–653|doi=10.1039/CT8977100649|issn=0368-1645|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Katharine I.|title=The Chemical Composition of Cooked Vegetable Foods. Part Ii|date=1907-04-01|journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society|volume=29|issue=4|pages=574–582|doi=10.1021/ja01958a021|issn=0002-7863|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1796113}} She published for over 14 years, authoring 10 papers, including two published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (1904 and 1907).{{Cite journal|last=Creese|first=Mary R. S.|date=September 1991|title=British women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who contributed to research in the chemical sciences|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-for-the-history-of-science/article/british-women-of-the-nineteenth-and-early-twentieth-centuries-who-contributed-to-research-in-the-chemical-sciences/E693E93196B5601A9DE908577A9E3EAB|journal=The British Journal for the History of Science|volume=24|issue=3|pages=275–305|doi=10.1017/S0007087400027370|issn=1474-001X|pmid=11622943|doi-access=free}} In 1909 she was one of the 24 female members of the 7th International Chemical Congress in London,{{Cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002692/19090611/010/0002|title=Scientific Women and Cookery|date=11 June 1909|work=Musselburgh News|access-date=27 April 2020}} and in 1910, by which time she was in her sixties, she gained a B.Sc. by research from University College Bristol, where she was considered to be one of the few advanced students capable of performing research.{{Cite book|last=Tilden|first=William A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=of0CswEACAAJ&q=Sir+William+Ramsay|title=Sir William Ramsay: Memorials of His Life and Work (Classic Reprint)|date=2015-07-18|publisher=Fb&c Limited|isbn=9781331679080|language=en}}
File:Chemistry Department staff and students, University College Bristol, 1902-1903.jpg|Chemistry Department staff and students, University College Bristol, 1902-1903
File:Chemistry Department staff and students, University College Bristol, 1898-1899.jpg|Chemistry Department staff and students, University College Bristol, 1898-1899
File:Chemistry Department staff and students, University College Bristol, 1907-1908.jpg|Chemistry Department staff and students, University College Bristol, 1907-1908
== References ==
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{{1904 Women Petitioners to the Chemical Society}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Katherine Isabella}}
Category:British women chemists
Category:People educated at King Edward VI High School for Girls, Birmingham