- William Henry (chemist)
:"For other men with the same name, see: Wiliam Henry (disambiguation)."
William Henry (
December 12 ,1775 —September 2 ,1836 ) was an English chemist.William Henry, the son of Thomas Henry (1734-1816), an
apothecary and writer on chemistry, was born inManchester . He began to study medicine atEdinburgh in 1795, taking his doctor's degree in 1807, but ill-health interrupted his practice as aphysician , and he devoted his time mainly to chemical research, especially with regard to gases. One of his best-known papers (Phil. Trans., 1803) describes experiments on the quantity of gases absorbed by water at different temperatures and under different pressures. His results are known today asHenry's law . His other papers deal with gas-analysis, fire-damp, illuminating gas, the composition ofhydrochloric acid and ofammonia , urinary and other morbid concretions, and the disinfecting powers of heat.His "Elements of Experimental Chemistry" (1799) enjoyed considerable vogue in its day, going through eleven editions in 30 years. This book was also translated into Japanese in 1837, as part of the Western studies nihongo|"
Rangaku "|蘭学 movement, by Utagawa Yoan under the name nihongo|"Science of Chemistry"|舎密開宗|Seimikaiso.He was one of the founders of the
Mechanics Institute that was to become theUniversity of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology .He died at
Pendlebury , near Manchester.References
*1911
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