| RefNo | MS/201 |
| Previous numbers | MS/201 - MS/208 |
| Level | SubFonds |
| Title | Thomas Andrews papers |
| Creator | Andrews, Thomas (1813-1885) Chemist |
| Date | 1836-1877 |
| Description | Thomas Andrews taught at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, later Queen's College Belfast, from 1835 to 1879. His research fell into four main fields;
(1) studies of acids and metals in electrolytic experiments;
(2) the calorimetry of chemical reactions, in particular those between acids and bases, and between metals and halogens;
(3) the properties and constitution of ozone;
(4) the condensation of gases to liquids at high pressures.
These fields are represented by the following papers listed in 'The Scientific Papers of the late Thomas Andrews. M.D., F.R.S.' (Macmillan, London 1889); (1) Papers 6 to 11 and 32, (2) Papers 13 to 16, 18 to 22, 40 and the manuscripts printed as 52 and 53, (3) Papers 31, 33 to 35, 37 and 45, (4) Papers 36, 38, 41, 47, 49 and 50. The eight volumes of manuscripts described as 'Notes of Experiments' at the Royal Society contain the laboratory records on which most of his work is based. For the little that is known of the provenence of these volumes, see J.S Rowlinson 'The work of Thomas Andrews and James Thomson on the liquefaction of gases' in 'Notes and Records of the Royal Society'.
The contents are described as far as possible in Thomas's own words from the title pages of each Book. Where the title page is uninformative then suitable headings have been chosen from the body of the notes. These title pages may have been written much later than the experiments since in 1862 there is the phrase 'critical point' which he probably invented only for his Bakerian Lecture of 1869. Some experiments or paragraph numbers are displayed on the title page of each Book. Those that are not, but are listed only on the pages themselves, are shown at the right-hand end of each line. The numbering of the experiments is again erratic; for example 376 may be followed by 277.
The reading of the notes on the experiments on the liquefaction of gases in Volumes 7 and 8 is helped by comparing them with the analysis by C.G. Knott 'Andrews' measurements of the compression of carbon dioxide and of mixtures of carbon dioxide and nitrogen' (Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 30, 1-22, 290 [1909-1910] a copy of whcih can be found at MS/201/9) |
| Language | English |
| Extent | 8 volumes |
| Arrangement | The pages of the volumes are rarely numbered and the best guide to location is the date of each entry. The volumes are sub-divided into what are sometimes called 'Books'. The numbering of these in Volumes 1 and 2 is in pencil, and was probably made by Andrew's daughter Mary when the volumes were bound in Belfast after Thomas's death. There are three sequences of Books: 1-23 in Volume 1, 1-83 (with inconsistencies in the numbers) in Volumes 2 to 6, and 1 to 27 (again with inconsistencies) in Volumes 7 and 8 . In the sequence which starts in Volume 7 Thomas's numbers have been increased by one by Mary to maintain their internal continuity. One of these amendments is initialled 'M.K.A.' Mary's numbers are shown here. |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | J S Rowlinson 'The work of Thomas Andrews and James Thornton on the liqufaction of gases' in NR
'The Scientific Papers of the late Thomas Andrews MD, FRS' (Macmillan, London, 1889) |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA5916 | Andrews; Thomas (1813 - 1885); chemist | 1813 - 1885 |