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Authorised form of namePercy; John (1817 - 1889); metallurgist
Dates1817 - 1889
NationalityBritish
Place of birthNottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
Date of birth23 March 1817
Place of death1 Gloucester Crescent, Paddington, London, England, United Kingdom
Date of death19 June 1889
OccupationMetallurgist
Research fieldMedicine
Metallurgy
Chemistry
ActivityEducation:
Private school at Southampton; MD (1838, Edinburgh)
Career:
Studied medicine in Paris, under Gay Lussac and Antoine de Jussieu; Physician, Queen's Hospital, Birmingham (1839); worked with David Forbes and William Hallowes Miller on crystallized slags (1846); Lecturer in metallurgy and metallurgist to the museum, Metropolitan School of Science (later Royal School of Mines) (1851-1879); appointed lecturer on metallurgy to the artillery officers at Woolwich (1864-1889); superintendent of ventilation of the houses of parliament (1865); member of the secretary for war's commissions on the application of iron for defensive purposes (1861) and on Gibraltar shields (1867), and of the royal commissions on coal (1871) and the spontaneous combustion of coal in ships (1875)
Memberships:
Geological Society
Awards/Medals:
Bessemer medal of the Iron and Steel Institute 1876
Albert gold medal of the Society of Arts 1889
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election22/04/1847
Age at election30
ProposerMichael Faraday
Golding Bird
William Robert Grove
William Benjamin Carpenter
John Gould
William Allen Miller
Hugh Falconer
Edward Forbes
Henry Thomas De la Beche
Edward Solly
Leaonard Horner
Richard Phillips
John Forbes Royle
Charles Lyell
Thomas Bell
Thomas Graham
Richard Partridge
RSActivityCouncil: 1857-1859
Clubs:
Royal Society Dining Club, 1853-1889 (Treasurer 1855-1866)
RelationshipsParents: Henry Percy, solicitor.
Spouse: (m. 1839) Grace Mary (d. 1880), daughter of J. E. Piercy, of Warley Hall, Birmingham.
PublishedWorksRCN 58652
RCN 58653
OtherInfoEminent for his acquaintance with organic and metallurigcal chemistry.
His collection of metallurgical specimens was deposited in the museum at South Kensington.
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1889 vol 46 pp xxxv-xl signed by W C R-A
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/9836037
CodeNA2658
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EC/1847/19Percy, John: certificate of election to the Royal Society
RR/3/122Referee's report by John Percy, on a paper 'On the molecular properties of antimony' by George Gore3 March 1858
RR/3/105Referee's report by John Percy, on a paper 'Experimental relations of gold (and other metals) to light' by Michael Faraday14 May 1857
RR/2/56Referee's report by John Percy, on a paper 'On the application of Potash as a test for Manganese' by Edmund Davy27 April 1854
MC/6/194Letter from John Percy, Jermyn Street, to General [Edward] Sabine, [President of the Royal Society]6 January 1862
RR/5/143Referee's report by John Percy, on a paper 'On new cornish minerals of the brochantite group' by Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne15 June 1865
MC/5/226Letter from Robert Mallet, Delville, Co Dublin, to Colonel [Edward] Sabine, [Treasurer of the Royal Society]11 February 1856
MC/6Volume 6 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1859-1863
MC/10/246Letter from John Percy, House of Commons, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society26 April 1875
MC/10Volume 10 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal SocietyJuly 1873-1876
MC/11/68Letter from John Percy, House of Commons, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society5 June 1877
MC/11Volume 11 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1877-1879
PP/10/12Paper, 'Contributions to the metallurgy of bismuth' by Edward Matthey1886
MC/17/325Report of Committee on Injury to Portrait of Newtonc.1858
MC/17Volume 17 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1897-1899
MC/5Volume 5 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1851-1858
RSC/5/2/12Letter from John Percy, House of Commons, to Mr [John] Gwyn Jeffreys 22 February 1880
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