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Authorised form of nameMallet; John William (1832 - 1912); chemist and civil engineer
Dates1832 - 1912
NationalityBritish
Place of birthNear Dublin, Ireland
Date of birth10 October 1832
Place of deathVirginia, USA
Date of death07/11/1912
OccupationChemist
Research fieldApplied chemistry
Mineralogy
Chemistry
ActivityEducation:
Trinity College, Dublin (1853); Gottingen. PhD (Gottingen); MD; LLD causa honoris
Career:
Chemist to the Geological Survey of Alabama, US; Professor of Chemistry, University of Alabama (1856); enlisted in the American Civil War as a private in a troop of Confederate Cavalry (1861); transferred to the artillery (1862); becam lieutenant colonel (1865); superintendent of the ordnance laboratories of the Southern States; professor of chemistry in University of Louisiana medical department; Professor of Chemistry, University of Virginia (1868); lectured at John Hopkins University (1877-1878); professor of chemistry and physics (1883-84); briefly professor of chemistry at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (1885); returned to the University of Virginia (1885); appointed professor emeritus (1908).
Memberships:
FCS
RSA
College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Medical Society of Virginia
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Chemical Society (President 1882)
Société Chimique de France
German Chemical Society
American Philosophical Society
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election07/06/1877
Age at election45
ProposerWilliam Crookes; August Wilhelm von Hofmann; Josh Prestwich; Humphrey Lloyd; Edward Hull; George Salmon; Robert Stawell Ball; James Apjohn; William Odling; Thomas Romney Robinson; Samuel Haughton; Robert Mallet; Richard Townsend; Warington Wilkinson Smyth
Thomas Oldham; Robert Hnry Scott; John Tyndall; John Hall Gladstone; Edward Frankland; Robert Hunt; Edward William Cooke; Mervin Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne
RelationshipsParents: Robert Mallet (FRS 1854)
Published worksRCN 54242
RCN 18077
General contextMallet devised methods for the determination of organic matter in portable water and characterised meteorites and rare terrestrial minerals; particularly, the occurrence of silver in the ash of South America volcanoes.
He accurately determined the density of solid mercury, molecular weight of hydrofluoric acid and the atomic weights of lithium (1856), aluminium (1880) and gold. Mallet also served as expert witness in many court cases involving poisoning, value of iron ore, pollution of river water and other chemical questions.
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DAB
References:
G Ferrari and A McConnell, 'Robert Mallet and the 'Great Neapolitan earthquake' of 1857 in NR 2005 vol 59 pp 45-64
Notes:
Note in Usual place of Residence of election certificate: 'now and always a British subject'
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/10603842
Royal Society codeNA6467
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
NLB/3/291Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, [Royal Society]30 April 1889
NLB/3/562Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Mr Collings 13 July 1889
NLB/3/367Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Henry Roscoe22 May 1889
NLB/3/363Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, [Royal Society]20 May 1889
NLB/3/531Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, [Royal Society]4 July 1889
NLB/3/907Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society, University of Virginia8 November 1889
RR/16/78Referee's report by William Crookes, on a paper 'The structure of Gold leaf, and the absorption spectrum of Gold' by John William Mallet27 June 1903
RR/16/79Referee's report by Francis Henry Neville, on a paper 'The structure of Gold leaf, and the absorption spectrum of Gold' by John William MalletJuly 1903
NLB/16/30Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Clay & Sons, The Cambridge University Press Warehouse14 January 1898
NLB/16/16Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Clay & Sons, Ava Maria Lane, E.C.13 January 1898
NLB/16/14Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr J W Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., U.S.13 January 1898
NLB/23/2/409Copy letter sent from Joseph Larmor, to Professor John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society11 December 1903
NLB/27/340Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Professor John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America13 August 1903
NLB/27/234Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society21 July 1903
NLB/27/458Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society1 October 1903
NLB/32/420Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society27 February 1906
NLB/37/424Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor J [John] W [William] Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society17 March 1908
MC/26/154Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, to Robert Harrison, [Assistant] Secretary, Royal Society, London28 July 1911
MC/26/152Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, to Robert Harrison, [Assistant] Secretary, Royal Society, London3 July 1911
RR/8/235Letter from John William Mallet, to George Gabriel Stokes, regarding a paper 'Revision of the atomic weight of aluminum' by John William Mallet6 July 1880
RR/10/283Referee's report by Henry Enfield Roscoe, on a paper 'Revision of the atomic weight of gold' by John William Mallet12 March 1889
RR/10/284Referee's report by Thomas Edward Thorpe, on a paper 'Revision of the atomic weight of gold' by John William Mallet29 April 1889
NLB/28/563Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to John William Mallet, Fellow of the Royal Society30 March 1904
MC/26/151Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, to Robert Harrison, [Assistant] Secretary, Royal Society, London30 May 1911
RR/8/234Referee's report by Heinrich Debus, on a paper 'Revision of the atomic weight of aluminum' by John William Mallet4 June 1880
RR/8/233Referee's report by William Odling, on a paper 'Revision of the atomic weight of aluminum' by John William Mallet23 April 1880
EC/1877/12Mallet, John William: certificate of election to the Royal Society
MC/11/94Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, to Walter White, [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society]10 August 1877
MC/9/412Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Virginia, United States, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, Burlington House, London1 October 1872
MC/9/490Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society6 February 1873
MC/9Volume 9 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1870-June 1873
MC/11/86Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, to Walter White, [Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society]29 June 1877
MC/19/595Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America, to Robert [William Frederick] Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, London17 March 1904
MC/11/319Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, London13 March 1879
MC/12/18Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Virginia, US, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society28 February 1880
MC/11Volume 11 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1877-1879
MC/12/33Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Virginia, US, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society5 April 1880
MC/12Volume 12 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1880-1883
MC/13/50Letter from J W [John William] Mallet, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, to Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society, London19 May 1884
MC/13Volume 13 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1884
PP/15/20Paper, 'On a second case of the occurrence of silver in volcanic dust, namely, in that thrown out in the eruption of Tunguragua [Tungurahua] in the Andes of Ecuador, January 11th, 1886' by J W [John William] Mallet1890
PP/10/1Paper, 'On the occurrence of silver in volcanic ash from the eruption of Cotopaxi [Ecuador] of July 22nd and 23rd, 1885' by John William Mallet13 November 1886
MC/24/48Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, [Virginia], USA, to Robert Harrison, [Assistant Secretary], Royal Society, London16 December 1909
NLB/44/466Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr J [John] W [William] Mallet FRS 14 July 1911
MC/26/153Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, to Robert Harrison, [Assistant] Secretary, Royal Society, London24 July 1911
NLB/44/589Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor J [John] W [William] Mallet FRS 9 September 1911
MC/21Volume 21 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1906
NLB/44/345Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor J [John] W [William] Mallet FRS 20 June 1911
MC/27/117Letter from [Lazarus] Fletcher, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, S.W, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]6 December 1912
MC/19Volume 19 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1904
MC/21/413Letter from [John William] Mallet, University of Virginia, Charlottsville, to Francis Darwin, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, London20 March 1906
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