| Authorised form of name | Sorby; Henry Clifton (1826 - 1908) |
| Dates | 1826 - 1908 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Woodbourne, Atterckiffe near Sheffield, Yorkshire, England |
| Date of birth | 10 May 1826 |
| Place of death | Sheffield |
| Date of death | 09/03/1908 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
Eccleshall churchyard, his gravestone two British granites on a sandstone plinth |
| Research field | Microscopy |
| Activity | Education:
Sheffield Collegiate School until age 15, then at home with a private tutor
Career:
Built himself a private laboratory following his father's death in 1847 at his home, Broomfield, Beech Hill Road, Broomhill, and pioneered microscopical petrography (shaving rock sample to 1000th of an inch, shine light through it and look at patterns under high magnification under normal and polarised light) . Interested in minute fluid cavities in mineral crystals, and how these could show ways in wwhich rocks themselves had been formed. This led to studies of meteorites and metoric iron and then to microscopical examination of modern iron and steel; led to field of study in 1863 called Microscopic Metallurgy. Invented a spectrum microscope and new branch of study of Microspectroscopy, detecting minute traces of blood. Bought yacht (1878) equipped as a floating laboratory for various topics but especially for marine biology, and developing his own techniques for mounting specimens onto lantern slides. Examined water samples in Thames Estuary in connection with the Royal Commission on the Drainage of London. Active in development of higher education in Sheffield with Mark Firth, became President of Firth College in 1882 after Firth's death, and worked to establish a University in Sheffield, which was eventually founded in 1905. Sorby left a bequest to the University to endow a professorship in geology, and a fellowship to promote original research.
Medals and Awards:
Woollaston Medal of the Geological Society (1869); Gold Medal of the Dutch Society of Sciences (1872); honorary Doctor of Laws at Cambridge University; President of Royal Microscopical Society; Mineralogical Society; Geological Society; the geological branch of the British Association; first president of the Yorkshire Naturalists Union (a federation of natural history societies within the county);
Memberships:
FGS; |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 11/06/1857 |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1874
Lectures:
Bakerian 1863 for his work 'on the Direct Correlation of mechanical and Chemical Forces' |
| Other Royal Society activity | Bequest 1909 of £15,000 for the purpose of establishing a Professorship or Fellowship for original research in connection with the University of Sheffield |
| Published works | Bakerian lecture published in 'Proceedings of the Royal Society', vol 12, 1863 |
| General context | Elected FRS at age 31 |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; many lantern slides at Sheffield City Museum;
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series B 1908 vol 80 pp lvi-lxvi signed by A G
H C Sorby 'Fifty years of scientific research. An address before the members of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, at Firth college, on Tuesday February 2nd, 1897 by the President, H C Sorby LL.D, FRCS etc', in Annual Report of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, 1898
R G J Edyvean, 'Henry Clifton sorby (1826-1908): studies in marine biology - the algal lantern slides.' in 'Archives of Natural History' 1988, Vol 15 pat 1, pp35-44
Web site:
http:www.sorby.org.uk/hcsorby.shtml |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/27849444 |
| Royal Society code | NA715 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| MC/9 | Volume 9 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1870-June 1873 |
| EC/1857/13 | Sorby, Henry Clifton: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/Maull/004322 | Sorby, Henry Clifton | nd |
| NLB/6/447 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Yacht 'Glimpse', Brightlingsea, near Colchester | 13 May 1892 |
| NLB/3/470 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Dr [Henry Clifton] Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Yacht "Glimpse", Walton-on-Naze | 17 June 1889 |
| NLB/4/1011 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 20 December 1890 |
| NLB/3/1064 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Mr [Henry Clifton] Sorby, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 3 January 1889 |
| NLB/5/146 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 2 April 1891 |
| NLB/5/187 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 April 1891 |
| NLB/9/449 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 19 May 1894 |
| NLB/8/210 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Yacht "Glimpse", Orford, Wickham Market | 28 July 1893 |
| NLB/8/242 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 August 1893 |
| NLB/10/540 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby | 14 December 1894 |
| NLB/10/539 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Messrs Clay & Sons, Ave Maria Lane, E.C. | 14 December 1894 |
| NLB/10/695 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 22 January 1895 |
| NLB/12/352 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 4 February 1896 |
| NLB/14/51 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 18 December 1896 |
| NLB/16/722 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr H C Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Yacht "Glimpse", Brightlingsea, Colchester | 25 May 1898 |
| NLB/16/701 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr H C Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Yacht "Glimpse", Rowhedge, Nr. Colchester | 21 May 1898 |
| NLB/18/232 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr H C Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 9 February 1899 |
| NLB/20/157 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 16 February 1900 |
| NLB/18/647 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr H C Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Broomfield, Sheffield | 15 April 1999 |
| NLB/22/85 | Copy letter from [Theodore E] James, to Dr [Henry Clifton] Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Broomfield, Sheffield | 28 February 1901 |
| NLB/21/676 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 8 January 1901 |
| NLB/21/776 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 28 January 1901 |
| NLB/31/514 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 4 October 1905 |
| NLB/28/138 | Copy note by Robert William Frederick Harrison on the Coral Report | 15 January 1904 |
| NLB/29/370 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 1 October 1904 |
| NLB/28/594 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Medical & Surgical Home, Clackhouse Road | 15 April 1904 |
| NLB/28/600 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to E Howarth, Public Museum, Sheffield | 16 April 1904 |
| NLB/29/445 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 18 October 1904 |
| NLB/32/172 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Henry Clifton Sorby, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 19 January 1906 |
| NLB/33/640 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society, Broomfield, Sheffield | 13 October 1906 |
| NLB/35/28 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Percy Carlyle Gilchrist, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 April 1907 |
| NLB/37/375 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Harrison & Sons | 10 March 1908 |
| NLB/39/365 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to The Reverend A E Sorby | 11 January 1909 |
| RR/8/39 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'On the nature and origin of the beds of chert in the upper carboniferous limestones of Ireland' by Edward Hull and E T Hardman | 29 June 1877 |
| RR/7/234 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'On a new locality of Amblygonite, and on montebrasite, a new hydrated aluminium and lithium phosphate' by Alfred Louis Olivier Des Cloizeaux | 24 February 1873 |
| RR/8/65 | Letter from Robert Bellamy Clifton, to Mr White, regarding two papers 'On some hitherto undescribed optical properties of doubly refracting crystals.—Preliminary notice' by Henry Clifton Sorby, and 'On the foci of lines seen through a crystalline plate' by George Gabriel Stokes | 10 August 1877 |
| RR/9/3 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'On a collection of rock specimens from the Island of Socotra' by Thomas George Bonney | 2 July 1882 |
| RR/8/232 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'Researches into the colouring-matters of human urine, with an account of the separation of urobilin' by Charles Alexander MacMunn | 17 March 1880 |
| RR/8/199 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'Microscopical researches in high power definition' by George West Royston-Pigott | 4 July 1879 |
| RR/8/255 | Second referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'Microscopical researches in high power definition' by George West Royston-Pigott | 5 August 1880 |
| RR/9/307 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'Contributions to the chemistry of chlorophyll. Part I' by Henry Edward Schunck | 16 July 1885 |
| RR/10/270 | Second referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'The structural arrangement of the mineral matters in sedimentary and crystalline pearls' by George Harley | nd [1889] |
| RR/8/166 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'On the origin of the mineral, structural, and chemical characters of ophites and related rocks' by W King and T H Rowney | 16 July 1879 |
| RR/13/142 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'An experimental investigation of the laws of attrition' by Frederick Thomas Trouton | 11 October 1895 |
| RR/8/217 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on the Bakerian Lecture 'On photographic method of mapping the least refrangible end of the solar spectrum' by William de Wiveleslie Abney | 28 January 1880 |
| RR/8/64 | Referee's report by Robert Bellamy Clifton, on two papers 'On some hitherto undescribed optical properties of doubly refracting crystals.—Preliminary notice' by Henry Clifton Sorby, and 'On the foci of lines seen through a crystalline plate' by George Gabriel Stokes | 8 August 1877 |
| RR/8/38 | Second referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'On the nature and origin of the beds of chert in the upper carboniferous limestones of Ireland' by Edward Hull and E T Hardman | nd [1877] |
| NLB/6/448 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to the Cambridge Engraving Company | 13 May 1892 |
| NLB/5/289 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 29 April 1891 |
| RR/6/230 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'Notes on the chemical geology of the gold-fields of California' by John Arthur Phillips | 3 April 1868 |
| RR/8/186 | Referee's report by Henry Clifton Sorby, on a paper 'Limestone as an index of geological time' by Thomas Mellard Reade | 17 March 1879 |
| NLB/5/226 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Henry Clifton Sorby, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 April 1891 |
| IM/000587 | Group lithograph of Royal Microscopical Society Presidents | nd |
| MDA/C/30/1/1 | Letter from Henry Clifton Sorby, Broomfield, Sheffield, to Thomas Harrison | 4 October [1904] |
| MDA/C/30/1/4 | Letter from Henry Clifton Sorby, Broomfield, Sheffield, to Sir William Huggins, President of the Royal Society | 21 October [1904] |
| MDA/C/30/1/7 | Letter from Henry Clifton Sorby, Broomfield, Sheffield, to Alfred Bray Kempe, Treasurer, Royal Society | 11 November 1904 |
| MDA/C/30/1/8 | Letter from Henry Clifton Sorby, Broomfield, Sheffield, to Alfred Bray Kempe, Treasurer, Royal Society | 14 November 1904 |
| MDA/C/30/1/9 | Extract from the will of Henry Clifton Sorby | 14 January 1909 |
| MC/9/256 | Letter from H C [Henry Clifton] Sorby, 9 West View, Ilkley, to the Royal Society | 22 September 1871 |