Edward Frankland | Biography

As with many famous chemists, Edward Frankland entered science by way of pharmacy. He was born in Churchtown, England, on January 18, 1825. After completing grammar school, he was apprenticed at a local apothecary (pharmacy) shop, in preparation for a medical career. Instead, he became interested in chemistry and studied under Lyon Playfair (1818-1898) at the University of London, Robert W. Bunsen at the University of Marburg, and Justus von Liebig at the University of Giessen In 1851, Frankland was appointed the first professor of chemistry at Owens College in Manchester, England. He moved to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London, England in 1857, to the Royal Institution in 1863, and to the Royal School of Mines in 1865.

Much of Frankland's research was related to the concept of organic radicals. In the early 1800s, organic compounds were thought to be composed of radicals, just as inorganic compounds were composed of elements. In attempting to isolate organic radicals, Frankland synthesized the first organometallic compounds which consist of metal atoms joined to organic groups. He ultimately prepared organometallic compounds of zinc, mercury, tin, boron, sodium, and potassium. He found these compounds to be highly reactive. These compounds, which today are referred to as Grignard reagents, are still used widely in the synthesis of organic compounds.

While working with the organometallic compounds, Frankland noted that each metal atom would combine with only a definite number of organic groups. Zinc, for example, always combined with two groups, while phosphorus could combine with either three or five. (Phosphorus was among the semimetals or metalloids Frankland also studied in his research on radicals.) Frankland concluded from this evidence that every atom had a certain specific "combining power" to which he gave the name atomicity. The term was later changed to valence. Frankland's concept of valence was crucial in the later development of structural theory and structural formula s, the attempts to show how atoms are physically connected to each other in molecules.

Late in his life, Frankland concentrated on a topic in which he had long been interested, water supply and purification. He became very active in the study of the causes of water pollution and its possible solutions.

In the late 1860s, Frankland, working with the astronomer Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), discovered spectral lines in sunlight that were eventually agreed to be those of a new element, helium.

Frankland was knighted in 1897 and died while on vacation in Norway on August 9, 1899.