William Ramsey Research Paper

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William Ramsey was born in Glasgow, Scotland on October 2, 1852, the son of William Ramsay, C.E. and Catherine, née Robertson. He was a nephew of the geologist, Sir Andrew Ramsay. William Ramsey’s parents were well-educated, with flourishing middle-class backgrounds. His father’s family had been in the dye business for seven generations, William’s grandfather founded Glasgow’s Chemical Society, William’s uncle was the geologist Sir Andrew Ramsay, and his mother’s family had been physicians for several generations. His father a civil engineer and his mother was a governess. William was an only child, and his parents were both forty when he was born. In 1858, William began at Mr. Stark’s Preparatory School.
William was interested in making things such as toy
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When he was about 10, William began attending Glasgow Academy, and he was two years younger than the other boys in his classes. He was taught a normal classical curriculum, but with the exception of heavy emphasis on Latin. William advanced to the University of Glasgow in October 1866, at age 14. He followed a general Arts classical curriculum of Latin, Greek, Logic and Mathematics. In his spare time, he and his lifelong friend Henry Fyfe, a chemistry student, carried out chemistry experiments. He practiced enough that he was able to create fireworks. William completed his junior course and immediately began learning about chemistry in the university’s laboratories. In October, when lectures resumed, he took the chemistry courses and a course in natural philosophy. He completed his science degree at age 18, then headed to Germany to carry out his post graduate research in the laboratories of the eminent chemist Wilhelm Fittig at the University of Tübingen. In August 1872, age 19, William Ramsay was awarded a Ph.D. for his thesis Investigations in the Toluic and Nitrotoluic Acids. Ramsay and his colleague Morris Travers discovered Krypton before they discovered