Partington, James Riddick 1886 - 1965

(1886-1965) Chemist

James Riddick Partington was a British chemist and historian who published many books and articles in scientific magazines. He was born on the 20th June 1886 at 194 Morris Green Lane, Middle Hulton, Lancashire. He was educated at Southport Science and Art School, followed by Manchester University, where he obtained a first-class honours in chemistry in 1909. After, he did research in physical organic chemistry under Arthur Lapworth, held a Beyer fellowship (1910–11), and was awarded the MSc in 1911; his DSc followed in 1918.

He carried out some research abroad, during which he held an 1851 Exhibition scholarship working on the specific heats of gases under H. Walther Nernst in Berlin from 1911 to 1913. This inspired his fist book 'Higher Mathematics for University Students', 1911. Partington wrote an influential 'Textbook of Thermodynamics' in 1913. He was an assistant lecturer and demonstrator in chemistry at Manchester University from 1913 to 1919, when London University appointed him professor of chemistry at East London College (renamed Queen Mary College in 1934). On 6 September 1919 Partington married a former student Marian Jones; they had two daughters and a son.

During the First World War Partington joined the army as an infantry and engineer officer later becoming a captain. He was transferred to the munitions inventions department of the Ministry of Munitions and, in the chemistry department of University College, London. Later he joined a team developing a method of manufacturing nitric acid, needed for explosives, from atmospheric nitrogen.

Until retiring in 1951 Partington remained at Queen Mary College, which elected him a fellow in 1959, he worked on many books and scientific papers throughout this time including his monumental book, 'An Advanced Treatise on Physical Chemistry' (5 vols., 1949–54) which contains a wealth of data in 1.5 million words and is of lasting value.

During the Second World War Partington's college was evacuated to Cambridge. He lived there until 1964, and then moved to Northwich, Cheshire, to be near his sister. Partington was the first chairman (1935–46) of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry; now the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, it awards the triennial Partington prize to a young historian. From 1949 to 1951 he was president of the British Society for the History of Science. He received the American Chemical Society's Dexter award for history of chemistry in 1961 and the Sarton medal of the American History of Science Society shortly before his death.

Partington died on 9 October 1965 in the Grange Hospital, Weaverham, Cheshire.