Cruickshank, William Unknown - 1811

William Cruickshank was a Scottish military surgeon and chemist, and professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was awarded a diploma by the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 5 October 1780. On 24 June 1802 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. His discoveries and inventions include:

- Identifying carbon monoxide as a compound containing carbon and oxygen

- Using chlorine to purify water

- Being one of two individuals credited with suspecting an unknown substance in a Scottish mineral, strontianite. This was later isolated by Humphry Davy and is now known as strontium

- Discoveries about diabetes, including the isolation of urea

- Inventing the Trough battery in 1800, in which the plates were arranged horizontally in a trough, rather than vertically in a column

-Conducting a number of experiments involving electrolysis, during which he discovered the process of extraction of pure metals from metallic solutions. Today this is known as electrowinning, a process used in the refining of copper and other metals.

Cruickshank became very ill in March 1803, possibly due to exposure to phosgene during his experiments. He died in 1810 or 1811 and military records state his death occurred in Scotland.