Peter Woulfe

{{Short description|Irish chemist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Peter Woulfe

|image = File:Wolf flask with tubulures, 19th-20th century - Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra - University of Coimbra - Coimbra, Portugal - DSC09117.jpg

|birth_date = 1727

|birth_place = Tiermaclane, Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

|death_date = 1803

|death_place =

|nationality = Irish

|field = Chemistry
mineralogist

|prizes = Copley Medal (1768)

}}

Peter Woulfe (1727–1803) was an Anglo-Irish chemist and mineralogist. He first had the idea that wolframite might contain a previously undiscovered element (tungsten).{{cite journal |last1=Woulfe |first1=Peter |title=Experiments on some mineral substances |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |date=1779 |volume=69 |pages=11–34 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000054592308&view=1up&seq=25 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1779.0004|s2cid=186212561 |url-access=subscription }} On pages 29–34, Woulfe analyzed a sample of a mineral from Joachimsthal (now: Jáchymov, Czech Republic) (see p. 30). On p. 31, Woulfe stated that the mineral contained "a new earth", and on pp. 32 and 34, he stated that it contained "some other earth".{{cite web|url=http://limerickslife.com/peter-woulfe/|title=Who was Peter Woulfe - The Last Alchemist|date=30 September 2016|author=Sharon Slater|website=limerickslife.com}}{{Self-published source|date=September 2021|expert=y}}

In 1771, Woulfe reported the formation of a yellow dye when indigo was treated with nitric acid.See:

• {{cite journal |last1=Woulfe |first1=Peter |title=A method of dying wool and silk, of a yellow colour, with indigo; and also with several other blue and red colouring substances |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London |date=1771 |volume=61 |pages=127–130 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000054603066;view=1up;seq=155 |doi=10.1098/rstl.1771.0015|doi-access=free |url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite book |last1=Hartog |first1=Philip Joseph |title=Dictionary of National Biography |date=1885–1900 |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co |location=London, England |volume=63 |page=64 |chapter-url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woulfe,_Peter_(DNB00) |chapter=Woulfe, Peter}}

Later it was discovered by others that he had formed picric acid, which eventually was used as the first synthetic dye, an explosive and an antiseptic treatment for burns.

Woulfe is credited with inventing, around 1767, the Woulfe's bottle, an apparatus for purifying or dissolving gases, which employed a bottle with two or three necks.See:

• {{cite journal|last1=Woulfe|first1=Peter|title=Experiments on the distillation of acids, volatile alkalies, &c. shewing how they mayt be condensed without loss, and how thereby we may avoid disagreeable and noxious fumes: in a letter from Mr. Peter Woulfe, F.R.S. to John Ellis, Esq.; F.R.S.|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|date=1767|volume=57|pages=517–536|bibcode=1767RSPT...57..517W|doi=10.1098/rstl.1767.0052|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1432252|doi-access=free}}
• [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woulfe,_Peter_(DNB00) "Woulfe, Peter"], Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, 63 : pp. 63–64.
• Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary 1913.