Home > Frederick Augustus Abel
Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, Bart. ( 17 July 1827 - 6 September 1902) was an English chemist.Born in London, Abel studied chemistry for six years under A. W. von Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry , then became professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy in 1851, and three years later was appointed chemist to the War Department and chemical referee to the government. During his tenure of this office, which lasted until 1888, he carried out a large amount of work in connection with the chemistry of explosives. One of the most important of his investigations had to do with the manufacture of guncotton, and he developed a process, consisting essentially of reducing the nitrated cotton to fine pulp, which enabled it to be safely manufactured and at the same time yielded the product in a form that increased its usefulness.
This work to an important extent prepared the way for the " smokeless powders" which came into general use towards the end of the 19th centuryAlternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical ( 18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801- 1900. Events The Little Ice Age ended; corditeCordite is a smokeless propellent explosive made from two high explosives nitrocellulose mixed with nitroglycerin, and commonly used in firearms since the early 20th Century. It has also been used in solid fuel rockets. In 1886, a French chemist called Pa, the type adopted by the British government in 1891Events January 1 ? Paying of old age pensions begins in Germany January 20 James Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state. January 29 Liliuokalani proclaimed Queen of Hawaii March 9 ? 12 ? Powerful storm off England?s south coast;, was invented jointly by him and Sir James DewarSir James Dewar ( September 20, 1842 March 27, 1923) was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He was born in Kincardine-on-Forth and studied at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated. Later he became professor at the University of Cambridge 1875 and. He and Dewer were unsuccessfully sued by Alfred NobelAlfred Bernhard Nobel ( October 21, 1833 December 10, 1896), Swedish chemist, engineer and the inventor of dynamite. In his last will, he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element Nobelium was named after him. Personal over infringment of Nobel's patentA patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally 20 years from the filing date). The term "patent" originates from the term patere which means to lay open (to public inspectio for a similar explosive called ballistiteBallistite is a smokeless propellant explosive made from two high explosives nitrocellulose mixed with nitroglycerin. In 1886, a French chemist, Paul Vieille invented the first smokeless powder, called Poudre B Poudre Blanche white powder). It was made ou, the case finally being resolved in the House of LordsThis article is about the British House of Lords. See also the historical Irish House of Lords. The House of Lords is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the British House of Commons. The House of Lor in 1895. He also extensively researched the behaviour of black powder when ignited, with the Scottish physicist Sir Andrew Noble.
At the request of the British government, he devised the Abel test , a means of determining the flash point of petroleum products. His first instrument, the open-test apparatus, was specified in an Act of Parliament in 1868 for officially specifying petroleum products. It was superseded in August 1879 by the much more reliable Abel close-test instrument.
In electricity Abel studied the construction of electrical fuses and other applications of electricity to warlike purposes, and his work on problems of steel manufacture won him in 1897 the Bessemer medal of the Iron and Steel Institute , of which from 1891 to 1893 he was president. He was president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (then the Society of Telegraph Engineers) in 1877. He became a member of the Royal Society in 1860, and received a royal medal in 1887. He took an important part in the work of the Inventions Exhibition (London) in 1885, and in 1887 became organizing secretary and first director of the Imperial Institute , a position he held till his death in 1902. He was knighted in 1891, and created a baronet in 1893.
