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Authorised form of nameHartley; Sir; Walter Noel (1847 - 1913); chemist
Dates1847 - 1913
NationalityBritish
Place of birthLichfield, Staffordshire, England
Date of birth03 February 1847
Place of deathInvercauld Arms Hotel, Braemar, Scotland
Date of death11/09/1913
Dates and placesBurial:
Churchyard, Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Occupationchemist
Research fieldChemistry
Spectroscopy
ActivityEducation: Home schooled due to poor health; Edinburgh University (1863); University of Marburg (1864)
Career: Worked in Kolbe's laboratory at the University of Marburg (1864); scientific assistant to Drs Angus Smith and Thudicum, Manchester (1865); chemistry lecturer at King's College, London (1871-1879); Professor of Chemistry, Royal College of Science of Ireland, Dublin (1879-1911), dean of faculty (1902-1911); published his researches in spectroscopy; retired early due to ill health (1911); died of heart failure.
Honours:
Kt 1911
Memberships:
FRSE
Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (VP)
Fellow of King's College, London
Medals/Awards:
D.Sc. Dublin University (Honrary)
Gold medal at the St Louis Exposition (1904)
Longstaff Medal (1906)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election12/06/1884
Age at election37
ProposerJoseph Henry Gilbert; John Hall Gladstone; Frederick Guthrie; Hugo Muller; William Henry Perkin; William John Russell; Willaim Grylls Adams; Arthur Gamgee; John Tyndall
Augustus Vernon Harcourt; Edmund James Mills; Maxwell Simpson; Edward Frankland; Frederick Augustus Abel; Warren De la Rue; Lionel Smith Beale; William Odling; George Bowdler Buckton; James Dewar
RelationshipsParents: Thomas Hartley, portrait painter, who exhibited (1820–60) at the Royal Academy in London, and Caroline Hartley (née Lockwood).
Spouse: Mary, daughter of Michael Laffan of Blackrock, county Dublin (04 July 1882)
Children: Walter John Hartley, died in the First World War at Gallipoli.
Published worksRCN 43205
General contextPioneer of spectroscopy.
Discovered the absorption of ultraviolet radiation by ozone.
First to establish a relationship between the wavelengths of spectral lines of the elements and their positions in the periodic table.
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; Dictionary of Irish Biography [URL:https://www.dib.ie/biography/hartley-sir-walter-noel-a3836; last accessed: 21/02/2024]
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1914 vol 90 pp vi-xiii signed by J Y B
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/62328190
Royal Society codeNA6669
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
EC/1884/11Hartley, Sir Walter Noel: certificate of election to the Royal Society
NLB/3/202Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor George Downing Liveing, Fellow of the Royal Society10 April 1889
NLB/3/255Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, [Royal Society]24 April 1889
NLB/10/129Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to The Direct Photo Engraving Company4 October 1894
NLB/3/1013Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society11 December 1889
NLB/5/99Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, [Fellow of the Royal Society]18 March 1891
NLB/5/1192Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society25 January 1892
NLB/10/292Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Mr Collings, 172 Strand5 November 1894
NLB/10/145Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society8 October 1894
NLB/10/289Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Direct Photo Engraving Company5 November 1894
NLB/10/32Copy letter from A H White, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society6 September 1894
NLB/10/31Copy letter from A H White, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], Secretary, Royal Society6 September 1894
NLB/11/1007Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Mr Collings15 November 1895
NLB/10/290Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society1 November 1894
NLB/10/453Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society26 November 1894
NLB/10/807Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to the Direct Photo Engraving Company8 February 1895
NLB/10/955Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, 36 Waterloo Road, Dublin13 March 1895
NLB/10/844Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to The Direct Photo Engraving Company18 February 1895
NLB/10/904Copy letter from Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society1 March 1895
NLB/11/309Copy letter from Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Euston Hotel, London, W.C.30 May 1895
NLB/11/786Copy letter from Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society4 October 1895
NLB/11/973Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], Secretary, Royal Society12 November 1895
NLB/9/916Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to The Direct Photo-Engraving Company, 38 Farringdon Street, E.C.27 July 1894
NLB/9/862Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society, The Ham, Withyham, near Tunbridge Wells20 July 1894
NLB/11/992Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Mr Collings13 November 1895
NLB/13/296Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Crookes, Fellow of the Royal Society22 July 1896
NLB/14/48Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society18 December 1896
RR/15/198Letter from Walter Noel Hartley, on a paper 'Notes on quantitative spectra of beryllium' by Walter Noel Hartley to Robert Frederick William Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society22 November 1901
RR/15/197Referee's report by William Crookes, on a paper 'Notes on quantitative spectra of beryllium' by Walter Noel Hartley12 November 1901
NLB/14/650Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Arthur Schuster, Fellow of the Royal Society15 April 1897
AP/75/6Unpublished paper, 'On the fermentation of urea; a contribution to the study of chemistry of the metabolism in bacteria' by W E Adeney1901
RR/16/323Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'The absorption spectrum & fluorescence of mercury vapour' by Professor Walter Noel HartleyJune 1905
NLB/19/275Copy letter from Robert William Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society26 July 1899
NLB/18/695Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor W N Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society24 April 1899
NLB/19/489Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society13 October 1899
NLB/19/609Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Carey Foster, Fellow of the Royal Society9 November 1899
NLB/19/739Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society8 December 1899
NLB/22/8Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Robert Bellamy Clifton, Fellow of the Royal Society11 February 1901
NLB/21/579Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Royal College of Science, Dublin 12 December 1900
NLB/21/554Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society10 December 1900
NLB/23/1/849Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, [Fellow of the Royal Society]6 February 1902
NLB/21/777Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society29 January 1901
NLB/23/2/5Copy letter from Sir Michael Foster, to Professor [Walter Noel] Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Mr Hugh Ramage23 January 1901
NLB/23/1/452Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society14 November 1901
NLB/35/329Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society16 May 1907
NLB/35/462Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons4 June 1907
NLB/34/477Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society29 January 1907
NLB/34/754Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society5 March 1907
NLB/34/781Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor [Walter Noel] Hartley, [Fellow of the Royal Society]7 March 1907
NLB/36/294Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Royal College of Science, St Stephens Green, Dublin8 October 1907
NLB/34/741Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor [Walter Noel] Hartley, [Fellow of the Royal Society]4 March 1907
NLB/37/604Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor W [William] N [Noel] Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal College of Science, Dublin, Ireland11 April 1908
NLB/37/684Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor W [Walter] N [Noel] Hartley. Fellow of the Royal Society30 April 1908
NLB/43/696Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society13 March 1911
NLB/45/704Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir W [Walter] N [Noel] Hartley FRS26 April 1912
RR/7/449Letter from Walter Noel Hartley, on his unnamed paper to the Secretary of the Royal Society9 December 1876
RR/17/173Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'On the two spectra of the elements as evidence of the composite nature of the atoms' by Walter Noel Hartley[February 1907]
RR/17/174Second referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'On the two spectra of the elements as evidence of the composite nature of the atoms' by Walter Noel Hartley[March 1907]
RR/8/161Referee's report by James Dewar, on a paper 'Researches on the action of organic substances on the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum' by Walter Noel Hartley and Alfred Kirby Huntington18 November 1879
RR/7/373Referee's report by John Hall Gladstone, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline solutions' by Walter Noel Hartley9 December 1875
RR/9/144Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'Researches on spectrum photography in relation to new methods of quantitative chemical analysis. Part I' by Walter Noel Hartley1883
RR/9/147Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Measurements of the wave-lengths of lines of high refrangibility in the spectra of elementary substances' by Walter Noel Hartley and W E Adeney1883
RR/9/145Letter from Walter Noel Hartley, on his paper 'Researches on spectrum photography in relation to new methods of quantitative chemical analysis. Part I' to the Secretary of the Royal Society13 July 1883
RR/9/274Referee's report by William de Wiveleslie Abney, on a paper 'The absorption spectra of the alkaloids' by Walter Noel Hartley1885
RR/13/190Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'Experiments on the flame spectrum of carbon monoxide' by Walter Noel Hartley14 April 1897
RR/11/278Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Flame spectra at high temperatures.—Part I. Oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe spectra' by Walter Noel Hartley30 May 1893
RR/11/279Referee's report by Joseph Norman Lockyer, on a paper 'Flame spectra at high temperatures.—Part I. Oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe spectra' by Walter Noel Hartley13 June 1893
RR/13/189Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Experiments on the flame spectrum of carbon monoxide' by Walter Noel Hartley22 March 1897
RR/12/352Referee's report by William Crookes, on a paper 'Flame spectra observed at Swedish Bessemer works' by C J Lundström and Walter Noel Hartley12 August 1895
RR/13/39Referee's report by William Crookes, on a paper 'On the spectrum of cyanogen as produced and modified by spark discharges' by Walter Noel Hartley1 August 1896
RR/14/182Referee's report by William Augustus Tilden, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline substances. Part III' by Walter Noel Hartley7 November 1899
RR/12/351Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Flame spectra observed at Swedish Bessemer works' by C J Lundström and Walter Noel Hartley15 April 1895
RR/18/143Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'On some mineral constituents of a dusty atmosphere' by Walter Noel Hartley30 March 1911
RR/9/148Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'Measurements of the wave-lengths of lines of high refrangibility in the spectra of elementary substances' by Walter Noel Hartley and W E Adeney1883
RR/14/180Referee's report by William Augustus Tilden, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline substances' by Walter Noel Hartley21 October 1899
RR/18/142Referee's report by William Crookes, on a paper 'On some mineral constituents of a dusty atmosphere' by Walter Noel Hartley27 November 1911
NLB/23/1/545Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society28 November 1901
RR/17/175Referee's report by Hugh Frank Newall, on a paper 'The absorption spectra of the vapours of benzene and its homolognes, at different temperatures and pressures, and of solutions of benzene' by Walter Noel Hartley[October 1907]
RR/9/216Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'Researches on spectrum photography in relation to new methods of quantitative chemical analysis. Part II' by Walter Noel Hartley1884
RR/9/146Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Measurements of the wave-lengths of lines of high refrangibility in the spectra of elementary substances' by Walter Noel Hartley and W E Adeney18 May 1883
RR/9/275Referee's report by John Hall Gladstone, on a paper 'The absorption spectra of the alkaloids' by Walter Noel Hartley6 April 1885
RR/12/134Referee's report by Joseph Norman Lockyer, on two papers 'Flame spectra at high temperatures.— Part II. The spectrum of metallic manganese, of alloys of manganese, and of compounds containing that element' and 'Flame spectra at high temperatures.—Part III. The spectroscopic phenomena and thermo-chemistry the bessemer process' by Walter Noel Hartley20 June 1894
RR/9/49Letter from Walter Noel Hartley, on his unnamed paper to the Secretary of the Royal Society2 July 1882
MC/28/132Letter from [Walter John] Hartley, University College, Newport Road, Cardiff, to the [Royal Society]24 September 1913
NLB/8/1079Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society21 February 1894
NLB/9/917Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor [Walter Noel] Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society, The Ham, Withyham, near Tunbridge Wells27 July 1894
RR/15/57Referee's report by James Dewar, on a paper 'An investigation of the spectra of flames resulting from operations in the open hearth and 'basic' bessemer processes' by Walter Noel Hartley and Hugh Ramage5 January 1901
RR/17/176Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'The absorption spectra of the vapours of benzene and its homolognes, at different temperatures and pressures, and of solutions of benzene' by Walter Noel Hartley10 December 1907
NLB/16/670Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor W N Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal College of Science, Stephen's Green, Dublin18 May 1898
NLB/19/721Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, [Fellow of the Royal Society]1 December 1899
RR/14/181Referee's report by William James Russell, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline substances' by Walter Noel Hartley2 November 1899
RR/8/225Referee's report by George Carey Foster, on a paper 'Researches on the action of organic substances on the ultra-violet rays of the spectrum. Part III. On examination of essential oils' by Walter Noel Hartley and A K Huntington2 March 1880
RR/15/55Referee's report by William Chandler Roberts-Austen, on a paper 'An investigation of the spectra of flames resulting from operations in the open hearth and 'basic' bessemer processes' by Walter Noel Hartley and Hugh RamageDecember 1900
NLB/10/138Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society5 October 1894
NLB/10/209Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor [Walter Noel] Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society22 October 1894
NLB/9/207Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to the Swan Electric Engraving Company, 116 Charing Cross Road, W.C.16 April 1894
RR/12/101Referee's report by Walter Noel Hartley, on a paper 'On the absorption spectra of dilute solutions' by Thomas Ewannd [1894]
RR/9/143Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Researches on spectrum photography in relation to new methods of quantitative chemical analysis. Part I' by Walter Noel Hartley18 July 1883
MC/9/325Letter from W N [Walter Noel] Hartley, King's College, to Professor G [George Gabriel] Stokes, Secretary of the Royal Society, Burlington House9 February 1872
MC/9Volume 9 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1870-June 1873
MC/13/67Letter from W N [Walter Noel] Hartley, Royal College of Science for Ireland, Stephen's Green, Dublin, to Professor G G [George Gabriel] Stokes, Secretary of the Royal Society, London16 June 1884
MC/13Volume 13 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1884
RR/9/273Referee's report by John Hall Gladstone, on a paper 'The absorption spectra of the alkaloids' by Walter Noel Hartley17 February 1885
RR/12/133Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on two papers 'Flame spectra at high temperatures.— Part II. The spectrum of metallic manganese, of alloys of manganese, and of compounds containing that element' and 'Flame spectra at high temperatures.—Part III. The spectroscopic phenomena and thermo-chemistry the bessemer process' by Walter Noel Hartley13 June 1894
AP/66/8Unpublished paper, 'Spectrum analysis of cadmium' by A Gruenwald1888
PP/2/11Paper, 'On the reversal of the metallic lines as seen in over­exposed photographs of spectra' by W N [Walter Noel] Hartley1882
PP/2/10Paper, 'Researches on spectrum photography in relation to new methods of quantitative chemical analysis' by W N [Walter Noel] Hartley1882
PP/3/28Paper, 'On line spectra of boron and silicon' by W N [Walter Noel] Hartley1883
PP/4/41Paper, 'Remarks on the atomic weight of beryllium' by W N [Walter Noel] Hartley1884
PP/14/7Paper, 'On films produced by vaporised metals and their applications to chemical analysis. Preliminary notice' by W N [Walter Noel] Hartley1889
PP/14/12Paper, 'On the limit of solar and stellar light in the ultra-violet part of the spectrum' by William Huggins1889
PP/17/33Paper, 'On the physical characters of the lines in the spark spectra of the elements' by Walter Noel Hartley1891
RR/12/182Referee's report by Walter Noel Hartley, on two papers 'On the photographic arc spectrum of electrolytic iron' and 'On the photographic arc spectrum of iron meteorites' by Joseph Norman Lockyer25 January 1894
RR/7/374Referee's report by Henry Enfield Roscoe, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline solutions' by Walter Noel Hartley13 December 1875
RR/9/215Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'Researches on spectrum photography in relation to new methods of quantitative chemical analysis. Part II' by Walter Noel Hartley2 April 1884
RR/14/179Referee's report by John Hall Gladstone, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline substances' by Walter Noel Hartley2 November 1899
RR/14/183Referee's report by Francis Robert Japp, on a paper 'On the action of heat on the absorption-spectra an chemical constitution of saline substances. Part III' by Walter Noel Hartley20 November 1899
RR/15/56Referee's report by Lazarus Fletcher, on a paper 'The mineral constituents of dust and soot from various sources' by Walter Noel Hartley and Hugh RamageDecember 1900
RR/16/237Referee's report by Walter Noel Hartley, on a paper 'Flame spectra' by Charles de Watteville13 June 1904
RR/19/63Referee's report by George Downing Liveing, on a paper 'On the ultimate lines, and the quantities of the elements producing these lines, in spectra of the oxyhydrogen flame and spark' by Walter Noel Hartley and Henry Webster Moss19 April 1912
RR/12/395Referee's report by Thomas Edward Thorpe, on four papers 'Argon, a new constituent of the atmosphere' by John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh and William Ramsay, 'The liquefaction and solidification of argon' by K Olszewski, 'On the spectra of argon' by William Crookes, 'On the spark spectrum of argon as it appears in the spark spectrum of air' by Walter Noel Hartley, and a letter from George Francis Fitzgerald to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh13 February 1895
RR/12/396Referee's report by John Henry Poynting, on four papers 'Argon, a new constituent of the atmosphere' by John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh and William Ramsay, 'The liquefaction and solidification of argon' by K Olszewski, 'On the spectra of argon' by William Crookes, 'On the spark spectrum of argon as it appears in the spark spectrum of air' by Walter Noel Hartley, and a letter from George Francis Fitzgerald to John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh18 February 1895
PP/23/22Paper, 'On variations observed in the spectra of carbon electrodes, and on the influence of one substance on the spectrum of another' by Walter Noel Hartley1894
MC/23/210Letter from [Walter Noel] Hartley, 10 Elgin Road, Dublin, to Robert Harrison, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society29 July 1908
MC/23/209Letter from [Walter Noel] Hartley, Royal College of Science, St. Stephen's Green, East, Dublin, to the Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, London17 June 1908
NLB/38/510Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Walter Noel Hartley, Fellow of the Royal Society18 August 1908
MC/26/109Letter from [Walter Noel] Hartley, 10 Elgin Road, Dublin, to Messrs Harrison & Sons, 45 St Martin's Lane, London, W.C4 March 1911
MC/29/41Letter from S.E Carr, Assistant Secretary, Chemical Society, Burlington House, London, W, to Robert Harrison, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House, W11 March 1914
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