Thomas Andrews | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 19 December 1813 Belfast, Ireland |
| Died | 26 November 1885 (aged 71) Belfast, Ireland |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
| Known for | Phase transitions |
| Awards | Royal Medal(1844) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry Physics |
Thomas AndrewsFRSFRSE (19 December 1813 – 26 November 1885) was an Irishchemist andphysicist who did important work onphase transitions between gases and liquids. He was a longtime professor of chemistry atQueen's University of Belfast.
Andrews was born in Belfast, Ireland, where his father was alinenmerchant. He attended theBelfast Academy and theRoyal Belfast Academical Institution, where at the latter of which he studied mathematics underJames Thomson. In 1828 he went to theUniversity of Glasgow to study chemistry under ProfessorThomas Thomson, then studied atTrinity College, Dublin, where he gained distinction inclassics as well as in science. Finally, atUniversity of Edinburgh in 1835, he was awarded a doctorate in medicine.[1]
Andrews began a successful medical practice in his native Belfast in 1835, also giving instruction in chemistry at the Academical Institution. In 1845 he was appointed vice-president of the newly establishedQueen's University of Belfast, and professor of chemistry there. He held these two offices until his retirement in 1879 at age 66.[1] He died in 1885, and was buried in the Borough Cemetery in Belfast.
In 1842, Andrews married Jane Hardie Walker (1818–1899). They had six children, including the geologistMary Andrews.[2]
Andrews first became known as a scientific investigator with his work on the heat developed in chemical actions, for which theRoyal Society awarded him aRoyal Medal in 1844. Another important investigation, undertaken in collaboration withPeter Guthrie Tait, was devoted toozone.[1]
His reputation mainly rests on his work withliquefaction of gases. In the 1860s he carried out a very complete inquiry into thegas laws—expressing the relations ofpressure,temperature, andvolume incarbon dioxide. In particular, he established the concepts ofcritical temperature andcritical pressure, showing that a substance passes from vapor to liquid state without any breach of continuity.[1][4][5] He concluded that
... the gaseous and liquid states are only distant stages of the same condition of matter, and are capable of passing into one another by a process of continuous change.
In Andrews' experiments on phase transitions, he showed that carbon dioxide may be carried from any of the states we usually call liquid to any of those we usually call gas, without losing homogeneity. The mathematical physicistWillard Gibbs cited these results in support of theGibbs free energy equation. They also set off a race among researchers to liquify various other gases. In 1877-78Louis Paul Cailletet was the first to liquefy oxygen.[6]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Andrews, Thomas".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 974.