Chemist, born in East Dereham, Norfolk, E England, UK. He studied at Cambridge, practised as a physician (17891800), then devoted his time to chemistry, optics, and physiology. He developed a method, now basic to powder metallurgy but which he kept secret until just before his death, of making malleable platinum. His success made him financially secure for the rest of his life. He discovered palladium and rhodium, invented the reflecting goniometer for measuring crystal angles, and discovered the vibratory nature of muscular action.
William Hyde Wollaston FRS (August 6, 1766 – December 22, 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering two chemical elements and for developing a way to process platinum ore.
Life
He was born in East Dereham, Norfolk, the son of the priest-astronomer Francis Wollaston (1737-1815) and his wife Mary Farquier.
Work
Wollaston is perhaps best known as a chemist. He became wealthy by developing the first physico-chemical method for processing platinum ore in practical quantities, and in the process of testing the device he discovered the elements palladium (symbol Pd) in 1803 and rhodium (symbol Rh) in 1804.
Anders Gustav Ekeberg (1776-1813) discovered tantalum in 1802, however, William Hyde Wollaston declared it was identical with Niobium.
He also performed important work in electricity. However, controversy erupted when Michael Faraday, who was undoubtedly the first to construct a working electrical motor, refused to grant Wollaston credit for his earlier work.
His optical work was important as well, where he is remembered for his observations of dark Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum (1802) which eventually led to the discovery of the elements in the Sun.
He used his Bakerian lecture in 1805, On the Force of Percussion, to defend Gottfried Leibniz's principle of vis viva, an early formulation of the conservation of energy.
He also served on a royal commission that opposed adoption of the metric system (1819), and one that created the imperial gallon.
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