| Frederick G. Donnan | |
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Frederick G. Donnan
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| Born | September 6, 1870 Ceylon |
| Died | December 16, 1956 Canterbury, England |
| Residence | London |
| Nationality | Northern Ireland |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University College London |
| Alma mater | Queen's College, Belfast |
| Doctoral advisor | Wilhelm Ostwald |
| Known for | Donnan equilibrium |
| Influences | J. H. van't Hoff |
| Notable awards | 1928 - Davy Medal, Fellow of the Royal Society[1] |
Frederick George Donnan FRS[1] (September 6, 1870 - December 16, 1956) was an Irish physical chemist who is known for his work on membrane equilibria, and commemorated in the Donnan equilibrium describing ionic transport in cells. He spent most of his career at University College London.[2][3]
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Donnan was born in Colombo, Ceylon, the son of a Belfast merchant, but spent his early life in Ulster.[1] He was blind in one eye as the result of a childhood accident, and is often shown in profile.[4] He studied at Queen's College, Belfast gaining a BA in 1894, then at the University of Leipzig with Wilhelm Ostwald, resulting in a PhD in 1896, followed by research with J. H. van't Hoff.[1] Donnan then became a research student at University College London, joining the academic staff in 1901. In 1903 he became a Lecturer on Organic Chemistry at the Royal College of Science, Dublin, followed a Chair in Physical Chemistry at the University of Liverpool in 1906. In 1913 he returned to University College London, where he remained until his retirement, serving as Head of Department from 1928 to 1937.[1]
Donnan never married. He died in Canterbury, England on 16 December 1956.[1][5]
During the First World War, Donnan was a consultant to the Ministry of Munitions, and worked with chemical engineer K. B. Quinan on plants for the fixation of nitrogen, for compounds essential for the manufacture of munitions. It was for this work that Donnan received the CBE in 1920.[5] He was said to have been "an early enthusiast for the new discipline of chemical engineering", and following the war was closely involved with the company Brunner Mond in the development of a major chemical works at Billingham.[1]
Donnan's 1911 paper[6] on membrane equilibrium was important for leather and gelatin technology, but even more so for understanding the transport of materials between living cells and their surroundings.[5][7] It was on this so-called Donnan equilibrium that he frequently was asked to lecture across Europe and America,[1] and is largely the only scientific research for which he is remembered today. The Donnan equilibrium remains an important concept for understanding ion transport in cells.
Just before World War II, Donnan was active in helping European refugees wanting to flee from the Nazis. Among those he assisted were Hermann Arthur Jahn and Edward Teller, who wrote their paper on the Jahn-Teller effect while in London.[7]
He was a founder member of the Faraday Society and its president from 1924-6.[1]