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.