Revista CENIC. Ciencias Químicas ISSN: 1015-8553 [email protected] Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Cuba Wisniak, Jaime Thomas Andrews Revista CENIC. Ciencias Químicas, vol. 39, núm. 2, mayo-agosto, 2008, pp. 98-108 Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas La Habana, Cuba Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=181615046005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Revista CENIC Ciencias Químicas, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2008. Thomas Andrews Jaime Wisniak. Department of Chemical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel 84105. Email: [email protected] Received: September 4th, 2007. Acepted: November 13th, 2008. Palabras clave: calor de reacción, equilibrio líquido-vapor, cambio de fase, vapor, gas, ozono. Key words: heat of reaction, vapor-liquid equilibrium, change of state, vapor, gas, ozone. RESUMEN. Thomas Andrews (1813-1885) realizó importante investigaciones en el área de la termoquímica, la termodi- námica del equilibrio de fases y la naturaleza y propiedades del ozono. Sus trabajos sobre calor de reacción entre bases y ácidos son notables por su avanzada técnica y buenos resultados numéricos, a pesar haberse realizado antes de las teorías de Arrhenius y del establecimiento de la ley de conservación de la energía. Sus contribuciones más importantes son el establecimiento del estado crítico del equilibrio líquido-vapor, la continuidad en el cambio de fase, la correcta definición de los conceptos de vapor y gas, y el hecho de que el ozono es un estado alotrópico del oxígeno. ABSTRACT. Thomas Andrews (1813-1885) performed important research in the area of thermochemistry, thermodynamics of phase equilibrium, and the nature and properties of ozone. His work on the heat of reaction between acids and bases is notable for its high technique and good numerical results, in spite of having been done at the time before the advent of the Arrhenius theory and when the law of conservation of energy were unknown. His most important contributions are the establishment of the critical state in vapor-liquid equilibrium, the continuity in the change of state, the correct definition of the concepts of vapor and gas, and the fact that ozone is an aIlotropic state of oxygen. LIFE AND CAREER action of the flame produced by the blast of the blow- The best information about the life, career, and sci- pipe had been tried upon almost every substance, yet entific publications of Thomas Andrews is found in the its influence upon the flame itself had never been ex- recollection of Andrews’s papers prepared by Peter amined. Andrews directed the flame of a candle urged Guthrie Tait (1831-1901), his friend and collaborator.1 by a mouth blowpipe upon that of another candle of Thomas Andrews, the eldest son of Thomas John equal size, and found that on applying the blast, the Andrews, a linen merchant in Belfast, and Elizabeth flame of the second candle was inverted and exhibited Stevenson, was born at Belfast, on the 19th December nearly the same appearances as a flame acted on imme- 1813. Andrews was first educated at the Belfast Acad- diately by the blowpipe. emy and the Belfast Academical Institution, where he This publication was shortly afterwards followed by studied Mathematics under James Thomson (1822-1892) a note On the Detection of Baryta or Strontia when in and classics under the Rev. Dr. Hincks. His most inti- Union with Lime,3 characterized by the care and ana- mate companion was Thomas O’Hagan (1812-1885), af- lytical skill so typical of all his experimental work.1 terwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland; and the close After graduation Andrews spent a short period in friendship lasted through life. After working for a short Jean-Baptiste André Dumas’s (1800-1884) laboratory in time in his father’s office during 1828, he left to study Paris in 1830. In addition to his chemical work, Andrews chemistry under Thomas Thomson (1773-1852), Regius spent some time each day in the Hôpital de la Pitié (To- Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. In day: Hôpital de la Salpêtrière). During his stay abroad a letter of introduction to Thomson, Dr. James McDonnell wrote to Thomas’s father that his son “should McDonnell (1762-1845), founder of the Belfast Medical enter Dublin College, and return home from that, with- School, described Thomas Andrews as a modest, silent, out pursuing the usual course of study there. He should and very capable boy, who wished to study chemistry at the same time be bound nominally to a surgeon…after profoundly, not merely as being connected with his pro- which he should go to France and Italy, and remain there fessional business, but as a great branch of human until he has satisfied his own mind; and, returning from knowledge. Andrews attended the Chemistry Class dur- thence, should attend as many terms in Dublin as would ing the winter session 1828-1829, and one of his teachers, qualify him for taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and William Meikleham (1771-1846), professor of Natural Phi- either or both the other degrees in Surgery and Physick; losophy, certified that in the Public Class of Natural Phi- taking care, in these pursuits, never to relinquish the idea losophy “he distinguished himself for ability”.1 of becoming ultimately a merchant if it became his duty After this first college session, and while only fifteen or interest to do so”. It is probable that this letter, coupled years old, Andrews published his first scientific paper, to a severe attack of fever, resulted in Thomas’ return to On the Action of the Blowpipe on Flame.2 Although the England and enrollment at Trinity College, Dublin, for 98 Revista CENIC Ciencias Químicas, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2008. a four-year course in Medicine. In Dublin he distin- should present himself as a candidate for the Chair of guished himself in classics as well as in science, and was Chemistry there. He declined however to do so, but in awarded several prizes. He attended at the same time the autumn of the same year he resigned his connec- lectures in the School of Physics in the Meath Hospital, tion with the Belfast Institution and gave up his private and in the Richmond Surgical Hospital. In 1834 Andrews practice, on his appointment as Vice-President of the attended hospital and dispensary practice in Belfast; he Northern College, now Queen’s College, Belfast.1 spent the ensuing winter and summer sessions in It had been understood from the first that Andrews Edinburgh, where he studied under the physicians R. was to the Professor of Chemistry in Belfast, but he was S. Allison, Thomas Graham (1805-1869), John Thomson, required (as a matter of form, merely) to produce a few Robert Knox (1791-1862), and William Turner (1832-1916), testimonials. These he obtained at once, in the highest Professor of anatomy.1 terms, from such prominent scientists as Thomas Gra- In 1835, Andrews obtained the diploma of the Royal ham, Humphrey Lloyd (1800-1881), James Mac Cullagh College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the degree of M.D. (1809-1847), Justus von Liebig, and Dumas.1 of the University of Edinburgh. His thesis was entitled Shortly after this Andrews initiated his detailed re- On the Circulation and the Properties of the Blood and searches on ozone, which were communicated to the among other items, reflected his work on the composi- British Association for the Advancement of Science and tion of the blood of cholera patients4 and the changes in the Royal Society with the titles On the Polar Decompo- the composition of blood that took place as a conse- sition of Water by Common and Atmospheric Electric- quence of repeated bleedings.5 ity9 and On the Constitution and Properties of Ozone.10 The information available on the changes that oc- In 1852 Andrews was elected a member of the com- curred in the blood of cholera patients was incomplete mittee appointed by the British Association “to propose and contradictory, and Andrews took advantage of a such general views regarding a more systematic method cholera outbreak in Belfast to perform new experiments of publishing scientific papers as may assist in render- on the subject. Andrews believed that the discrepancies ing the records of facts and phenomena published in the were actually due to the analytical methods employed. United Kingdom more complete, more continuous, and He analyzed blood samples taken at different stages of more convenient than they are at present”.1 advancement of the illness and found that the only dif- Andrews resigned the offices of Vice-President and ference between the blood of cholera patients and that Professor of Chemistry in Queen’s College, Belfast, on of healthy ones was that in the former there was a defi- October 1879. The grave debility from which he had long ciency of water in the serum and a consequent excess of been suffering increased so much that in October 1885 albumin, that the saline ingredients of the serum was he was confined to bed and sank gradually, until pass- the same as in healthy blood, that the red globules and ing away on November 26. His grave is in the Borough fibrin were normal, and that the lack of fluidity of the Cemetery, Belfast where a granite obelisk now marks blood, its dark color, and the bulk of the crassamentum the spot. His wife, three daughters and two sons sur- (blood clots), were a result of the increased viscosity of vived him.