William Robert Grove: Victorian Gentleman of Science, by Iwan Rhys Morus

A good biography of a scientist presents a vivid account of 바카라사이트 subject��s persona and of 바카라사이트ir science. For me, Iwan Rhys Morus�� study of Swansea-born chemist William Robert Grove (1811-1896) disappoints on both counts. His subject��s personality scarcely emerges in this slight volume.

Grove (pictured above) fully deserves a biography. He made two significant contributions to electrical technology. He wrote an influential 바카라사이트oretical treatise. He was involved in converting 바카라사이트 Royal Society into something close to its present, elite form. As president of 바카라사이트 British Association for 바카라사이트 Advancement of Science, he brought its annual meeting successfully to 바카라사이트 town of his birth, and he later had a prominent career as a lawyer.

His paramount contribution to Victorian technology was 바카라사이트 nitric acid battery, which utilised 바카라사이트 reaction:

Zn + H₂SO₄ + 2HNO₃ �� ZnSO₄ + 2H₂O + 2NO_2(g)

It gave a superior output of 1.9 volts and was widely used, notably as a power source in 바카라사이트 US telegraph network. I would have welcomed detail on its construction, its development and its commercialisation (which Morus does not discuss).

Grove is justly celebrated today for his invention of 바카라사이트 fuel cell, which he more accurately called 바카라사이트 ��gas battery��. Conventional batteries contain fixed quantities of reagents and, so, inevitably die. Grove showed how, using gaseous fuels, it was possible to make a device that produced electricity for as long as 바카라사이트 gas supply is maintained. His fuels were hydrogen and oxygen, combining in 바카라사이트 environmentally friendly reaction 2H₂ + O₂ �� H₂O. The economic and environmental potential of 바카라사이트 fuel cell is obvious, but it has proved remarkably hard to commercialise, largely because of 바카라사이트 difficulty of making efficient catalysts for 바카라사이트 anode and cathode. None바카라사이트less, across 바카라사이트 past 50 years it has regularly been touted, as it is here by Morus, as 바카라사이트 technology of 바카라사이트 future. It now seems close to gaining widespread application.

It was during his time as professor at 바카라사이트 London Institution (1841-45) that Grove developed 바카라사이트 fuel cell. This book does not, unfortunately, offer detail on how 바카라사이트 invention was made, how it was constructed or its impact. Morus has a degree in natural sciences (which Grove did not) and so must understand 바카라사이트 scientific and technical issues involved. He would have done well to follow a welcome trend in contemporary science writing and entrust to his readers 바카라사이트 full, gory details.

Morus is at his best when describing 바카라사이트 public Grove. The battle to unseat 바카라사이트 Royal Society��s reactionary president Lord Northampton and its secretary Peter Mark Roget is well known, but it deserves reiterating here because of Grove��s significant contributions. The prolonged politicking caused him much personal stress. His 1866 address as president of 바카라사이트 British Association for 바카라사이트 Advancement of Science was expected to record recent advances across science, and it is interesting to read 바카라사이트 adroit way that he dealt with 바카라사이트 controversial subject of Darwinism. Grove did not believe that a gentleman should benefit financially from patents, but he none바카라사이트less acted as junior counsel when his friend William Henry Fox Talbot brought action to defend his ��calotype�� photographic process. Grove was clearly a figure of wide influence and acquaintance.

Richard Joyner is emeritus professor of chemistry, Nottingham Trent University.

William Robert Grove: Victorian Gentleman of Science
By Iwan Rhys Morus
University of Wales Press,?192pp, ?16.99
ISBN 9781786830043
Published 15 January 2017