Thomas Graham (chemist)

Thomas Graham
Thomas Graham in 1856
Born	(1805-12-20)20 December 1805 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	16 September 1869(1869-09-16) (aged 63)
Nationality	Scottish
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	Royal College of Science and Technology University College London
Known for	Graham's Law Dialysis
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1838, 1850) Copley Medal (1862)
Signature

Thomas Graham FRS FRSE DCL (20 December 1805 – 16 September 1869) was a nineteenth-century Scottish chemist who is best-remembered today for his pioneering work in dialysis and the diffusion of gases. He is regarded as the father of colloid chemistry.

Graham was born in Glasgow, and educated at Glasgow High School. Graham's father was a successful textile manufacturer, and wanted his son to enter into the Church of Scotland. Instead, defying his father's wishes, Graham became a student at the University of Glasgow in 1819. There he developed a strong interest in chemistry, studying under Prof Thomas Thomson (who was strangely impressed and influenced by this young man). He left the University after receiving his M.A. in 1824.

He later studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and then briefly taught chemistry at the Portland Street Medical School and at the Glasgow Mechanics' Institution. He later became a professor of chemistry at numerous colleges, including the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow (appointed 1830 as the Freeland Chair of Chemistry), the Royal College of Science and Technology and the University of London.

In 1828 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being Edward Turner. He won the Society's Keith Medal for the period 1831-33.

Graham also founded the Chemical Society of London in 1841. In 1866, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.