William Hyde Wollaston

Lore & Background

Wollaston was born in East Dereham, Norfolk, the son of Francis Wollaston, a noted amateur astronomer, and Althea Hyde. He was one of 17 children in a financially well-off family. He was educated privately at Charterhouse School from 1774 to 1778, then studied sciences at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He obtained his MD in medicine from Cambridge in 1793 and was a Fellow of his college from 1787 until he resigned his fellowship upon marriage in 1800. He worked as a physician in Huntingdon from 1789, then moved to Bury St Edmunds before moving to London in 1797. In 1800, after receiving a large sum of money from an older brother, he left medicine to pursue chemistry and other subjects. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1793, served as its president in 1820, and was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822. He died in London and was buried in St Nicholas's Churchyard in Chislehurst, England.

In 1800, Wollaston established a partnership with Smithson Tennant to produce and sell chemical products. He became wealthy by developing the first physico-chemical method for processing platinum ore in practical quantities, keeping the process secret until near his death. Chemical analysis during platinum purification led him to discover palladium in 1802 and rhodium in 1804. He also performed important work in electricity, including an 1801 experiment showing friction electricity was identical to that from voltaic piles. His later electrical experiments resulted in accidental discovery of electromagnetic induction ten years before Michael Faraday, though his demonstration of a motor to the Royal Society failed. He invented a battery with zinc plates that could be raised out of acid to slow dissolution. In optics, he observed Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum in 1802, invented the camera lucida in 1807, the reflecting goniometer in 1809, and developed the first meniscus lens for cameras in 1812. He also devised a cryophorus and used his 1805 Bakerian lecture to defend Leibniz's vis viva principle.

Reader's Guide

Wollaston's significance lies in his multiple discoveries and inventions across chemistry, physics, and optics. He discovered two elements, palladium and rhodium, and developed a commercially vital method for processing platinum ore, which he kept secret for about twenty years. His optical inventions, including the camera lucida and meniscus lens, advanced both scientific illustration and photography. His early observation of Fraunhofer lines was a key event in spectroscopy. In electricity, his work on electromagnetic induction preceded Faraday's, though his demonstration failed. He also contributed to atomic weight estimation, coining the term 'bicarbonate' and serving on royal commissions regarding the imperial gallon and opposing the metric system. Despite these achievements, Wollaston has not received the same renown as contemporaries like Thomas Young, Humphry Davy, and John Dalton, possibly because he published anonymously in the case of palladium, and his notebooks went missing for over a century after his death. The mineral wollastonite, the Wollaston Medal, and various geographic features are named after him. His legacy is that of a versatile and secretive scientist whose work spanned multiple fields, with his full historical standing only recently clarified through comprehensive biography.

Did You Know?

• Wollaston discovered palladium in 1802 and rhodium in 1804 while analyzing platinum ore.
• He observed Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum in 1802, twelve years before von Fraunhofer.
• He invented the camera lucida in 1807 and the reflecting goniometer in 1809.
• His notebooks were preserved and deposited at Cambridge University, where they remain available for study.