[BITList] Fwd: Study in blue - Oxford DNB Life of the Day

Mon Nov 16 07:42:48 GMT 2009

All about an industrial chemist and stuff...

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From: oxforddnb-lotd at oup.com
Date: 16 November 2009 5:00:00 PM AEST
To: ODNBLIFEOFTHEDAY-L at WEBBER.UK.HUB.OUP.COM
Subject: Study in blue - Oxford DNB Life of the Day
Reply-To: epm-oxforddnb at OUP.COM

November marks the 30th anniversary of Anthony Blunt's exposure as a Soviet spy.

You can listen to Blunt's life in our latest podcast episode: http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/pod/

Or read about him, and other spies here: http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/shelves/spies/

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To read this Life of the Day complete with a picture of the subject,
visit http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2009-11-16

Meldola,  Raphael  (1849-1915), chemist, was born on 19 July 1849 in Islington, London, the only son of Samuel Meldola, printer, and grandson of Raphael Meldola, formerly chief rabbi to the London Sephardi community. He was educated at private schools in Kew and Maida Vale, and in 1866 entered the Royal College of Chemistry, presided over by Edward Frankland (1825-1899). After two years he received the certificate of the college for proficiency in chemistry. From 1868 until 1871 he was assistant to Dr John Stenhouse, assayer to the Royal Mint. He then entered industrial chemistry at Williams, Thomas and Dower, manufacturer of coal-tar dyestuffs, at Brentford. He left the firm in 1873, and returned to the Royal College of Chemistry, which had recently transferred to South Kensington. Studies on spectrum analysis led to his taking charge of the Royal Society's expedition to the Nicobar Islands to observe the total eclipse of the sun (6 April 1875). At this time he developed a deep interest in photography, which later led to a textbook on the subject (1889) and a series of Cantor lectures before the Society of Arts (1891). In 1877 he joined the laboratories of Brooke, Simpson, and Spiller at the Atlas works, Hackney Wick, another manufacturer of dyestuffs. During this period Meldola discovered the first oxazine dyestuff, Meldola's blue, though it was not manufactured to any extent, if at all, in England, and also the first alkali green, viridine. In 1883 he discovered alkali blue XG, an important cotton dye. Apart from laboratory research, he became familiar with all aspects of the manufacture of dyes, and particularly of the general situation of the industry in England and elsewhere. He left the firm in 1885, amid circumstances that for over thirty years fuelled the debate on why England lost the dye industry to Germany. The reasons put forward included his employer's reluctance to exploit his products or to file patents for them, and a tendency not to reinvest profits in the business. If nothing else, this raised his status as a leading expert in the then important field of dyestuff chemistry.

In 1885 Meldola became professor of chemistry at Finsbury Technical College. He was one of the original fellows of the Institute of Chemistry (founded in 1877) and ultimately became its president (1912-15). On 8 July 1886 he married Ella Frederica, daughter of Maurice Davis, surgeon. In the same year, with a lecture to the Society of Arts, he began to draw attention to the failings of the British dye industry and the general lack of interest in scientific research, and its application, in England. In particular, he held up the example of the BASF company of Ludwigshafen as an example of what science had done for industry and vice versa. In 1886, also, he was elected FRS, although he had no academic degree until 1910, when he delivered the Herbert Spencer lecture at Oxford and the university conferred on him an honorary DSc. In 1911 he received an honorary LLD from St Andrews, and in 1913 the Royal Society awarded him the Davy medal. From about 1870 he began to publish on aspects of natural history, and as secretary of the Entomological Society (1876-80) he became very friendly with Charles Darwin. Meldola himself was much interested in protective colouring and mimicry of moths.

During his first twenty years at Finsbury, Meldola published more than 250 papers and reports, and during his presidency of the Institute of Chemistry he did much work for the development of all aspects of its activities. He was chairman of the executive committee of the events in London that in 1906 marked the jubilee of the discovery of the first aniline dye, mauve, by William H. Perkin. In 1915 he became chairman of the advisory council of British Dyes Ltd. He also served on the advisory council set up under an order in council of 28 July 1915, for the 'organization and development of scientific and industrial research' (forerunner of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1916). Meldola was by now an ailing and weary man, overcome by excessive worry and work for the growing war effort.

Meldola died suddenly at his home, 6 Brunswick Square, London, on 16 November 1915 and was buried in the Sephardi Jewish cemetery at Hendon. In his prime he was described as a small, trim, wiry figure of somewhat severe appearance, but with a whimsical sense of humour and ready wit. The Meldola medal of the Institute of Chemistry, first awarded in 1921, was named in his honour and sponsored by the Society of Maccabaeans, a Jewish organization of which Meldola was a former president (1911-15). Memorial funds were set up for a reference library of chemical books at Finsbury College (1917).

K. R. Webb, rev. 

Anthony S. Travis 

Sources  E. B. Poulton, 'Raphael Meldola', PRS, 93A (1916-17), xxxii-xxxvii + W. A. Tilden, JCS, 111 (1917), 349-53 + J. V. Eyre and E. H. Rodd, 'Raphael Meldola', British chemists, ed. A. Findlay and W. H. Mills (1947), 96-125 + J. Marchant, ed., Raphael Meldola: reminiscences of his worth and work by those who knew him, together with a chronological list of his publications, 1869-1915 (1916) + K. R. Webb, 'Raphael Meldola, 1849-1915', Chemistry in Britain, 13 (1977), 345-8 + M. Tordoff, The servant of colour: a history of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, 1884-1984 (1984) + M. R. Fox, Dye-makers of Great Britain, 1856-1976: a history of chemists, companies, products, and changes (1987) + R. Meldola, A. G. Green, and J. C. Cain, eds., Jubilee of the discovery of mauve and of the foundation of the coal-tar colour industry by Sir W. H. Perkin (1906) + Journal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, 31 (Dec 1915), 260-62 + Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry (30 Nov 1915), 1131 + E. B. Poulton, Nature, 96 (1915-16), 347 + d. cert. + m. cert.
Archives ICL, corresp. and notebooks + Newham Heritage Centre, Plaistow, London, MSS + Oxf. U. Mus. NH, Hope Library, notes + Royal Society of Chemistry, London + RS | Deutsches Museum, Munich, Caro Nachlass + Oxf. U. Mus. NH, corresp. with C. R. Darwin [some copies]; corresp. and papers
Likenesses  J. Lopez, print, 1906, NPG · group photograph, 1906, Zeneca Archives · portrait, 1907, repro. in Eyre and Rodd, 'Raphael Meldola', facing p. 96 · F. Bowcher, bronze plaque (posthumous), NPG · S. J. Solomon, oils, RS · S. J. Solomon, oils, NPG [see illus.] · S. J. Solomon, portrait, Institute of Chemistry · photograph, repro. in Poulton, 'Raphael Meldola', 32 · photograph (after portrait, 1907), repro. in Fox, Dye-makers of Great Britain, 142-3

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