Person Pope; Sir; William Jackson (1870 - 1939); chemist Pope William Jackson Sir chemist 1870 - 1939 British Male 89 New North Road, London, England 31 March or 31 October 1870 Holmleigh, West Road, Cambridge, England 17/10/1939 19391017

Chemist Stereochemistry Crystallography Organic chemistry Education: Central Foundation School, London (1878–85); Finsbury Technical College (1885–7); Central Institution (which became the Central Technical College while he was there), where he was a pupil of Henry Edward Armstrong (FRS 1876). Career: Worked alongside Professor Frederick Stanley Kipping (FRS 1897), head of the chemistry department of the Goldsmiths' Institute at New Cross (1897–1901), and professor of chemistry in the municipal school and faculty of technology of the University of Manchester (1901–8), obtained the chair of chemistry at Cambridge University and was a professorial fellow of Sidney Sussex College until his death (1908–39); pursued crystallographic studies and stereochemical investigations; introduced improvements in the methods and new strong acids (derived from camphor) for the resolution of externally compensated compounds, chiefly organic bases, into their optically active isomerides (1897); by his resolution of synthetic benzylphenylallyl-methylammonium iodide, methylethylthetine bromide, and methylphenylselenetine bromide, Pope demonstrated that a compound can exhibit optical activity which contains not an ‘asymmetric’ carbon atom but another atom, nitrogen, sulphur, or selenium, which has an asymmetric environment (1899–1902); established that a carbon atom attached to four different univalent atoms or radicals, none of which need contain a carbon atom, was sufficient to determine the possibility of a compound exhibiting optical isomerism (1914); consultant to the board of invention and research working on the preparation of photographic sensitizers, to extend the effectiveness of photographic plates, and elucidated the structure and preparation of the main sensitizer, pinacyanol. Also prepared mustard gas from ethylene and sulphur chloride (1914-1918); died following a long illness and with his death the professorship of chemistry in the University of Cambridge ended, in its place the chair of organic chemistry was established (1939). Honours: KBE 1919 Grand officer of the Belgian order of Leopold (1937) Memberships: President of the Chemical Society (1917–19) President of the Society of Chemical Industry (1920–21) President of the Union internationale de Chimie (1922–5) President of the Solvay chemical conferences in Brussels (1922–36) Awards/Medals: Davy Medal 1914 Parents: William Pope, a City merchant who came from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, and Alice, daughter of William Hall, of Prudhoe, Northumberland. Chiefly associated with advances he made in stereochemistry. Between 1899 and 1902 he demonstrated that the atom of tin may be an asymmetric centre, by obtaining methylethylpropylstannic iodide in an optically active form. The experimental proofs that atoms other than carbon could also be centres of asymmetry and give rise to optically active compounds constituted the greatest advance in stereochemistry since the work of Pasteur and the later work of J. H. van't Hoff and J. A. Le Bel. First to demonstrate (1908–35) the basic principles on which depend the enantiomorphism and hence the optical activity of chemical compounds. By his resolution into its optically active isomerides of 1-methyl-cyclohexylidene-4-acetic acid, Pope proved that a compound which does not contain an asymmetric atom but the molecular structure of which, as a whole, exhibits no element of symmetry, has a non-superposable mirror image and therefore can give rise to optical activity. Demonstrated the persistence of optical activity through a series of derivatives of the optically active parent compounds; some of these derivatives also had asymmetric molecular structures. Successfully investigated the synthesis and optical resolution of 1:1ʹ-diamino-cyclobutanespirocyclobutane, which has an axis of twofold symmetry, and thereby established the mirror-image isomerism of molecules possessing certain elements of symmetry. Therefore, establishing the broad principle concerning mirror-image isomerism, namely, that the molecular configuration may be ‘dissymmetric’ and may possess any elements of geometrical symmetry excepting a centre of symmetry and a plane of direct symmetry, and that the molecular configuration of an optically active, or potentially optically active, compound need not be asymmetric or lacking geometrical symmetry. During Pope's tenure of his chair and through his influence, the chairs of physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, colloid science, and metallurgy within the department of chemistry in the University of Cambridge were established. Medals and prizes: Davy Medal 1914 Fellow 05/06/1902 32 Frederic Stanley Kipping; Henry Alexander Miers; Raphael Meldola; Hugo Muller; George Matthey; George Downing Liveing James Dewar; Frederick Abel; John Hall Gladstone; Charles Edward Groves; William Crookes; William Augustus Tilden; Wyndham Rowland Dunstan; William Palmer Wynne; Lazarus Fletcher Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB Obituaries: Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1939-1941 vol 3 pp 291-324, plate, by Charles S Gibson References: Sir Harold Hartley and D C Martin, 'The Royal Society Club Dinner on 14 November 1968 in Celebration of the 90th Birthday of Sir Harold Hartley, FRS' in NR 1969 vol 24 pp 146-155 W van der Kloot, 'April 1915: Five Future Nobel Prize-Winners Inaugurate Weapons Of Mass Destruction And The Academic-Industrial-Military Complex' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 149-160 Notes: DSB gives birth date as 31 October 1870 ©Godfrey Argent Studio International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1941.0004 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorRaw=Pope%2C+William+Jackson https://pictures.royalsociety.org 31 Mar 1870 or 31 Oct 1870 - 17 Oct 1939 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 06/03/2024 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA8272 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 08/09/2025 RS_NET\VirginiaM Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/57362261 7636040c-685d-435a-8cfb-0102ea0e90e9