Edward Charles Howard

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Edward Charles Howard, born May 28, 1774, the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk, died September 27, 1816 was a British chemist, who has also been described as "the first chemical engineer of any eminence^[1].

In 1800 he was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London for his work on mercury. He discovered mercury fulminate a powerful primary explosive. In 1813 he invented a method of refining sugar which involved boiling the cane juice not in an open kettle, but in a closed vessel heated by steam and held under partial vacuum. At reduced pressure, water boils at a lower temperature, and this development both saved fuel and reduced the amount of sugar lost through caramelization. The invention, known as Howard's vacuum pan, is still in use. He was also interested in the composition of meteorites especially in "natural iron" ones. He found that many contained an alloy of nickel and iron which was not found on Earth, and thus may have fallen from the sky. A type of meteorite is known as Howardite.

[edit] References

1. ^ Transactions of the IChemE (1951) volume 29 page 163
F. Kurzer (1999). "The Life and Work of Edward Charles Howard". Annals of Science 56: 113–141. doi:10.1080/000337999296445.
Edward Howard (1800). "On a New Fulminating Mercury.". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 90 (1): 204–238.