William Henry (chemist)

William Henry ( born December 12, 1774 Manchester, † September 2, 1836 in Pendlebury ) was an English physician and chemist.

Life and work

William Henry, was born as the son of Thomas Henry (1734-1816), a chemist and pharmacist. In 1795 he began to study medicine in Edinburgh and in 1807 received his doctorate. The title of his dissertation was: De acido Urico, et morbis a nimia ejus secretione ortis.

Because of his poor health he gave up his work as a doctor soon and devoted himself to chemical research, in particular the behavior of gases. One of his best-known publications (Phil. Trans, 1803) describes experimental studies on the amount of absorbed gases in water and the influence of different pressures and temperatures on this. His results are known today especially in the form of Henry's law. More of his publications dealt with the gas analysis, fire fighting, illuminating gas, the synthesis of hydrochloric acid and ammonia, bladder and gallstones as well as the disinfecting effect of heat. His Elements of Experimental Chemistry (1799 ) found strong appeal, and have been for over 30 years, including published in six editions in Japanese.

William Henry died near his birthplace of Manchester. Henry discovered almost simultaneously with John Dalton (1766-1844) Dalton's law of partial pressures over ( often called the Henry -Dalton law). In 1802 he formulated the Henry's law (Henry's law of absorption ) on the solubility of gases in liquids, after which the concentration of a gas is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the corresponding gas above the liquid in a liquid. This proportionality is expressed by the Henry's Law constant.

The findings of Henry et al play an important role in the field of diving medicine and physiology of the volatile anesthetics.

He identified in 1808, methane (CH4 ) as the flammable component of illuminating gas. He also showed that ammonia (NH3 ) is free of oxygen.

Writings

• Dissertatio chemico -medicating inauguralis, De acido Urico, et morbis a nimia ejus secretione ortis: quam, annuente summo Numine, ex auctoritate reverendi admodum viri. D. Georgii Baird: pro gradu Doctoris. Excudebant Jac. Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1807.
• Experiments on the Quantity of Gases Absorbed by Water, at Different Temperatures, and under Different Pressures. In: Phil Trans R. Soc. Lond. 93, 1803, pp. 29-274, doi: 10.1098/rstl.1803.0004 ( full text )