Crookes

Crookes, William, F.R.S., born in London in 1832, became a pupil and subsequently assistant of Dr. Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry. In 1854 he was appointed superintendent of the Meteorological Department at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, and in 1855 took the professorship of chemistry at the Chester training college. He founded the Chemical News and edited the Quarterly Journal of Science. In 1861, by means of spectrum analysis, he discovered the metal thallium, and in 1863 was elected F.R.S. In 1872 he began the researches which resulted in the invention of the radiometer, and two years later was rewarded by the Royal Society's gold medal. His investigations in molecular physics won him distinction from the French Academie des Sciences, and more recently he has, by means of the spectroscope, thrown considerable light on the constitution of the elements, his observations on radiant matter having gained the Davy medal in 1888. His contributions to the Philosophical Transactions and other scientific publications are numerous. For some time he devoted much attention to spiritualistic phenomena.