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Hope, Thomas Charles, 1766-1844 (Professor of chemistry, University of Edinburgh)

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1766 - 1844

Biography

Thomas Charles Hope was born in 1766. He studied at Edinburgh's Royal High School and then Edinburgh University where he graduated in 1787 and published his dissertation Tentamen Inaugurale quaedam de Plantarum Motibus et Vita, complactens. In 1787 too, Hope was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Glasgow University then resigned in 1789 when he became Assistant Professor of Medicine. In 1795, Hope was elected joint Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University with Joseph Black (1728-1799), and when Black died he became sole Professor. Early in his career, Hope put forward two important pieces of research. Firstly, in 1793, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he gave An account of a mineral from Strontian, and of a peculiar species of Earth which it contains - the mineral being strontium carbonate discovered at Strontian, Argyllshire. Secondly, he established that water attained its maximum density several degrees above the freezing point. Other scientific papers included those on the chemical and colouring matters in the leaves and flowers of plants. Hope resigned his Professorship during the 1842-43 session, and died in Edinburgh on 13 June 1844.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Minutes volume 2, 11 December 1830-16 April 1858

 Item
Identifier: Coll-206/1/2
Scope and Contents Bound volume containing numbered pages. Sessions 24 to the final session, 44, are minuted including: details of nominations for and ratifications of membership, business matters, plans for a bust of Robert Jameson and final business matters including disbanding the membership and settling affairs. Details of titles and abstract content of all papers read to the society are minuted. These include: a description of Greenockite, and a paper on stratification of primitive rocks by...
Dates: 11 December 1830-16 April 1858

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  • Subject: Geology, Stratigraphic X