J. R. Partington
| J. R. Partington | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 June 1886 Bolton, England |
| Died |
9 October 1965 (aged 79) Northwich, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Fields | History of science, Chemistry |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester |
| Spouse | Marian Jones |
| Children | Two daughters and one son |
James Riddick Partington (30 June 1886 – 9 October 1965) was a British chemist and historian of chemistry who published multiple books and articles in scientific magazines.
Partington was a fellow and council member of the Chemical Society of London as well as the first president of the Society for History of Alchemy and Early Chemistry when it was founded in 1937. The society founded the Partington Prize in his memory in 1975. He was President of the British Society for the History of Science from 1949 to 1951.
Partington was born on 30 June 1886 in the small village of Middle Hulton, south of Bolton, Lancashire. His mother, from whom he took his middle name, was a Scottish tailoress and his father was a book keeper. His family moved to Southport when he was young, allowing him to attend the Southport Science and Art School. In 1901 when he was 15, his family moved back to Bolton and Partington worked at several jobs before getting accepted into the University of Manchester in 1906. In Manchester, he attained a bachelor's degree in science followed by a master's degree in chemistry. While attending the University he was made a University Scholar and earned his teaching certificate. He was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, and worked with Walther Nernst in Berlin for several years where they studied the specific heat of gases. In 1913, Partington returned to Manchester to lecture on chemistry.
It was there that Partington met a student named Marian Jones whom he taught and supervised for a master's degree in supersaturated solutions. Partington fell in love with her and they married after the war on 6 September 1919. She went on to become a chemistry teacher before giving birth to two daughters and one son, who also became a chemist.
Partington joined the army in 1914 as World War I began in Eastern Europe. He was first assigned to work with Eric Rideal on the purification of water for troops on the Somme. Later the two chemists turned to the question of the oxidation of nitrogen to form nitric acid and investigated the Haber-Bosch process that the Germans were pursuing. Thus, he was transferred to a group led by Frederick G. Donnan, which worked on the production of nitric acid for munitions. Captain Partington was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Military Division for this latter work. Outside his war work for the government, Partington managed to continue with thermodynamics, joining the Faraday Society in 1915. In 1919 he presented a major review of the literature on the dilution law to the Faraday Society, to whose Council he was elected that same year.
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