William ramsey biography

Scottish chemist (1852–1916)

For other people named William Ramsay, see William Ramsay (disambiguation).

Sir William RamsayKCB FRS FRSE (; 2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year for their discovery of argon.

After the two men identified argon, Ramsay investigated other atmospheric gases. His work in isolating argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon led to the development of a new section of the periodic table.^[2]

Early years

Ramsay was born at 2 Clifton Street^[3] in Glasgow on 2 October 1852, the son of civil engineer and surveyor, William C.

Ramsay, and his wife, Catherine Robertson.^[4] The family lived at 2 Cli