Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 organic chemist

Organic chemistry

Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...

.

Biography

Born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, the half-brother of the physician and essayist John Brown

John Brown (physician)

John Brown FRSE FRCPE was a Scottish physician and essayist. He was the son of the clergyman John Brown , and was born in Biggar, Scotland. He is best known for his 3 volume collection Horae Subsecivae—"Leisure Hours" , including essays and papers on art, medical history and biography...

, he studied for five years at the Royal High School

Royal High School (Edinburgh)

The Royal High School of Edinburgh is a co-educational state school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, and has, throughout its history, been high achieving, consistently attaining well above average exam results...

, succeeded by one year at Mill Hill School

Mill Hill School

Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, London, is a coeducational independent school for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an organisation of public schools in the United Kingdom....

 in London. In 1854 he entered the universities of University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

 where he firs studied Arts and then of Medicine. He was gold medallist in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy and graduated as M.A. in 1858. Continuing his medical studies, he received the degree of M.D. in 1861. During the same time he read for the science degree of University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

, and in 1862 became the first Doctor of Science at the University of London. After his graduation as Doctor of Medicine in Edinburgh he continued the study of chemistry in Germany, first under Robert Bunsen

Robert Bunsen

Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with Gustav Kirchhoff. Bunsen developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry, and did early work in the field of organoarsenic...

 at University of Heidelberg, and then at University of Marburg under Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe

Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe

Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe was a German chemist. He never used the first two of his given names, preferring to be known as Hermann Kolbe.-Life:...

.

In 1863 he returned to the University of Edinburgh to accept a position of an extra-academical lecturer in chemistry. In 1865 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...

, and was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh in 1869, holding the Chair until his retirement in 1908. In the application for this position he was supported by such famous chemists as Baeyer, Beilstein

Friedrich Konrad Beilstein

Friedrich Konrad Beilstein , Russian name "Бейльштейн, Фёдор Фёдорович", was a chemist and founder of the famous Handbuch der organischen Chemie . The first edition of this work, published in 1881, covered 1,500 compounds in 2,200 pages...

, Bunsen, Butlerov

Aleksandr Butlerov

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov was a Russian chemist, one of the principal creators of the theory of chemical structure , the first to incorporate double bonds into structural formulas, the discoverer of hexamine , and the discoverer of the formose reaction.The...

, Erlenmeyer

Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer

Richard August Carl Emil Erlenmeyer or Emil Erlenmeyer was a German chemist known for formulating the Erlenmeyer Ruleand designing a type of chemical flask.-Biography:...

, Hofmann, Kolbe, Volhard

Jacob Volhard

Jacob Volhard was the German chemist who discovered, together with his student Hugo Erdmann, the Volhard-Erdmann cyclization reaction. He was also responsible for the improvement of the Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky halogenation....

 and Wöhler

Friedrich Wöhler

Friedrich Wöhler was a German chemist, best known for his synthesis of urea, but also the first to isolate several chemical elements.-Biography:He was born in Eschersheim, which belonged to aau...

. The Chair of Chemistry at the university still bears his name.

Although physically not very robust, Crum Brown spent much of his holiday time in tramping in the highlands and on the continent, and way rarely ill. He married early in his professorial life, to Jane Porter. He remained intellectually active until his natural death in 1922.

Research

Crum Brown's pioneering work concerned the development of a system of representing chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

s in diagrammatic form. In 1864 he began to draw pictures of molecule

Molecule

A molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge...

s, in which he enclosed the symbols for atom

Atom

The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...

s in circles, and used dashed lines to connect the atomic symbols together in a way that satisfied each atom's valence

Valence (chemistry)

In chemistry, valence, also known as valency or valence number, is a measure of the number of bonds formed by an atom of a given element. "Valence" can be defined as the number of valence bonds...

. The results of his influential work were published in 1864 and reprinted in 1865.

Although Crum Brown apparently never contemplated the practice of medicine, his training as a medical student gave him an interest in physiology and pharmacology which led him to collaborate
during 1867–8 with T. R. Fraser, a distinguished medical graduate a few years younger than himself, in a pioneering investigation of fundamental importance on the connection between chemical constitution and physiological action. Their method “consists in performing upon
a substance a chemical operation which shall introduce a known change into its constitution, and then examining and comparing the physiological action of the substance before and after the
change.” The change considered was the addition of ethyl iodide

Ethyl iodide

Ethyl iodide is a colorless, flammable chemical compound. It has the chemical formula C2H5I and is prepared by heating ethanol with iodine and phosphorus. On contact with air, especially on the effect of light, it decomposes and turns yellow or reddish from dissolved iodine.Ethyl iodide is very...

 to various alkaloid

Alkaloid

Alkaloids are a group of naturally occurring chemical compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen atoms. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Also some synthetic compounds of similar structure are attributed to alkaloids...

s and comparison of the iodide

Iodide

An iodide ion is the ion I−. Compounds with iodine in formal oxidation state −1 are called iodides. This page is for the iodide ion and its salts. For information on organoiodides, see organohalides. In everyday life, iodide is most commonly encountered as a component of iodized salt,...

s (and the corresponding sulfate

Sulfate

In inorganic chemistry, a sulfate is a salt of sulfuric acid.-Chemical properties:...

s) thus obtained with the hydrochloride

Hydrochloride

In chemistry, hydrochlorides are salts resulting, or regarded as resulting, from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an organic base . This is also known as muriate, derived from hydrochloric acid's other name: muriatic acid....

s of the original alkaloids. Striking regularities were observed, amongst
others “that when a nitrile [tertiary] base possesses a strychnialike action, the salts of the corresponding ammonium [quaternary] bases have an action identical with curare

Curare

Curare is a common name for various arrow poisons originating from South America. The three main types of curare are:* tubocurare...

 [poison].”

He discovered the carbon double bond

Double bond

A double bond in chemistry is a chemical bond between two chemical elements involving four bonding electrons instead of the usual two. The most common double bond, that between two carbon atoms, can be found in alkenes. Many types of double bonds between two different elements exist, for example in...

 of ethylene

Ethylene

Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...

, which was to have important implications for the modern plastics industry

Plastics Industry

The plastics industry manufactures polymer materials and offers services in plastics important to a range of industries, including aerospace, building and construction, electronics, packaging, and transportation.-See also:...

. He also made significant contributions to pharmacology

Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...

, and worked with physiology

Physiology

Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...

, phonetics

Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...

, mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 and crystallography

Crystallography

Crystallography is the experimental science of the arrangement of atoms in solids. The word "crystallography" derives from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and grapho = write.Before the development of...

.

In 1912, he introduced the name of kerogen

Kerogen

Kerogen is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the huge molecular weight of its component compounds. The soluble portion is known as bitumen. When heated to the right...

 to cover the insoluble

Solubility

Solubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a solid, liquid, or gaseous solvent to form a homogeneous solution of the solute in the solvent. The solubility of a substance fundamentally depends on the used solvent as well as on...

 organic matter

Organic matter

Organic matter is matter that has come from a once-living organism; is capable of decay, or the product of decay; or is composed of organic compounds...

 in oil shale

Oil shale

Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...

.

Further reading

• Testimonials in favour of Alexander Crum Brown (Muir and Paterson, Edinburgh,1869).
• Brown, A.C., Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 23,707–720 (1864).
• Brown, A.C., ibid.,24, 331–9 (1867).
• Brown, A.C., Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 17, 181–5 (1891).
• Brown, A.C. and Walker, J., Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 36,211–224 (1892); ibid., 37, 361–379 (1895).
• Brown, A.C. and Gibson, J., Chemical Society Transactions, 61, 367–9 (1892).
• Horn, D.B., A Short History of the University of Edinburgh (University Press, Edinburgh, 1967), p. 194.
• National Library of Scotland MS 2636, f. 182.
• Rorie, D., University of Edinburgh Journal, 6,8–15 (1933–34).
• Flett, J.S., ibid., 15,160–182 (1949–1951 ).
• Bell, F.G., ibid., 20,215–230 (1961–1962).
• Edinburgh University Library MS Gen. 47D.
• Kendall, J., Journal of Chemical Education, 4,565–9 (1927).
• Report of the Royal Commissioners on the Universities of Scotland, vol. II (Evidence-Part I) (H.M.S.O., Edinburgh, 1878), pp. 184–5.
• Quasi Cursores (Constable, Edinburgh, 1884), pp. 229–232.
• Kendall, J., Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1,537–549 (1932–35):
• Edinburgh University Library MS Gen. 178/3,4.

External links

• Biography of Crum Brown, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
• Web pages on Crum Brown at University of Edinburgh