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Biography of Theodore William RichardsName: Theodore William RichardsBirth Date: January 31, 1868 Death Date: April 2, 1928 Place of Birth: Germantown, Pennsylvania, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: chemist Theodore William Richards The American chemist Theodore William Richards (1868-1928) ushered in a new age of accuracy in chemistry by determining the atomic weights of many elements.Theodore W. Richards was born on Jan. 31, 1868, in Germantown, Pa. His father, William Trost Richards, was a prominent landscape and marine artist; his mother, Anna Matlock Richards, was a poet and a woman of great cultivation. Until he entered college, his education was at home under his mother's direction. At age 14 he entered Haverford College as a sophomore, uncertain whether to become an astronomer or a chemist. He had defective eyesight, however, and by the time of his graduation he had decided on a career in chemistry.In 1885 Richards entered Harvard as a senior and the following year was granted the bachelor's degree. Two years later he was awarded the doctorate with a dissertation on the atomic weights of hydrogen and oxygen. He won a Harvard grant …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…searched for an understanding of the material structure of the universe.Richards received many honorary degrees and medals. A Harvard professorship was endowed in his name in 1925. He received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1914, the first American chemist to be so honored. He was a man of noble character who made a deep impression on those who met him. The guiding principles of his life he described as "kindliness and common sense." He died on April 2, 1928. Further Reading Richards presented his atomic weight research in Determinations of Atomic Weights (1910). In his Nobel Prize lecture, printed in Nobel Foundation, Nobel Lectures: Chemistry, 1901-1921 (1966), he described both his research and his beliefs about the universe. Of the many biographical studies of Richards, the most informative are those in Benjamin Harrow, Eminent Chemists of Our Time (1927); Sir Harold Hartley, Memorial Lectures Delivered before the Chemical Society (3 vols., 1933); and Aaron J. Ihde, Great Chemists (1961). |