J. Norman Collie
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John Norman Collie FRS (September 10, 1859 – November 1, 1942), commonly referred to as J. Norman Collie, was a British scientist, mountaineer, and explorer.
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[edit] Life and work
Among mountaineers, Collie is best remembered for his pioneering climbs on the Cuillin in the Isle of Skye, but he also climbed in the Alps with William Cecil Slingsby and Albert F. Mummery.
In 1895, Collie, Mummery, and fellow climber Geoffrey Hastings headed off for the Himalaya for the world's first attempt at a Himalayan 8000-metre peak, Nanga Parbat. They were years ahead of the time, and the mountain claimed the first of its many victims: Mummery and two Ghurkas, Ragobir and Goman Singh were killed by an avalanche and never seen again. The story of this disastrous expedition is told in Collie's book, From the Himalaya to Skye.
After gaining climbing experience on the Alps, the Caucasus, and the Himalaya, In 1897 Collie joined the Appalachian Club upon the invitation of Charles Fay, and spent the summer climbing in the Canadian Rockies. From 1898 to 1911, Collie visited the Canadian Rockies five more times, accomplishing twenty-one first ascents and naming more than thirty peaks. In 1903, Collie and Hugh Stutfield published an authoritative book on the region, Climbs and Explorations in the Canadian Rockies.
Collie's avocation was mountaineering, but his professional career was spent as a scientist. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry under Johannes Wislicenus at Würzburg in 1884. Returning to England, he taught three years at Cheltenham Ladies College before joining University College London (UCL) as an assistant to William Ramsay. Collie served as Professor of Organic Chemistry at UCL from 1896 to 1913, and headed its chemistry department from 1913 to 1928.[1] He performed important research that led to the taking of the first x-ray for diagnosing medical conditions. According to Bentley, Collie "worked with Ramsay on the inert gases, constructed the first neon lamp, proposed a dynamic structure for benzene, and discovered the first oxonium salt."[2]
Collie died in 1942 from pneumonia after falling into Storr Loch on a day of fishing. He is interred in an old graveyard at Struan.
[edit] Selected writings
- Collie, J. Norman, From the Himalaya to Skye (ISBN 1-904466-08-7).
- Collie, J. Norman (1902). Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain Ranges. David Douglas.
[edit] Honours and affiliations
- Fellow of the Royal Society (1896)
- Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (1897)
- President of the Alpine Club (1920 – 1922)
- Member of the Mount Everest Committee (1921)
- Mount Collie in Yoho National Park and Sgurr Thormaid (Norman's Peak) on the Isle of Skye were both named after Norman Collie.
[edit] References
- ^ See the UCL Department of Chemistry page on Collie
- ^ Bentley, Ronald (1999). "John Norman Collie: Chemist and Mountaineer". Journal of Chemical Education 76: 41 – 47.
[edit] Further reading
- Baly, E. C. C. (1943). "John Norman Collie. 1859-1942". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 4: 329 – 356. doi:.
- Bentley, Ronald (1999). "John Norman Collie: Chemist and Mountaineer". Journal of Chemical Education 76: 41 – 47.
- Mill, Christine (1987). Norman Collie: A Life in Two Worlds : Mountain Explorer and Scientist 1859-1942. Aberdeen University Press.
- Mummery, A. F. (1895). My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus. T. Fisher Unwin.
- Taylor, W. C. (1973). The Snows of Yesteryear. J. Norman Collie, Mountaineer. Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada.
