Frederick George Donnan was a British physical chemist whose work was instrumental in the development of colloid chemistry.
Background
Frederick George Donnan was born on September 5, 1870 in Colombo, Ceylon, while his parents were temporarily abroad. He was the son of William Donnan, a Belfast merchant, and his wife, Jane Ross Turnley Liggate. He spent his early life in Ulster.
Education
Donnan studied at Queen's College, Belfast, gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1894; then at the University of Leipzig with Johannes Wislicenus and Wilhelm Ostwald, resulting in a Ph.D. in 1896, followed by research with J. H. van 't Hoff. Donnan then became a research student at University College London.
Donnan's unusually long apprenticeship to chemistry was completed with a period spent working with Ramsay at University College, London, to the teaching staff of which he was appointed in 1901. Three years later he became professor of physical chemistry at the University of Liverpool; he succeeded Ramsay at University College in 1913.
Donnan was drawn into industry during World War I, and for several years he worked on problems connected with the manufacture of “synthetic” ammonia and nitric acid, both in London and with the firm of Brunner, Mond in Cheshire. These industrial connections and interests were retained for the rest of his life, and even after his retirement in 1937 he continued to act as a consultant. His London house was destroyed in 1940, and he retired to Kent with his sisters.
Donnan, having worked with both Ostwald and van ’t Hoff, was one of the main agents by whom the “new” physical chemistry was introduced into Britain. Van ’t Hoff had interested him in the problems of colloids, soap solutions, and osmotic pressures, and this interest led to his major paper, “The Theory of Membrane Equilibrium in the Presence of a Non-dialyzable Electrolyte” (1911). This examined the effect of confining, by means of a membrane, a mixture of ions, one of which cannot pass through the membrane because of its large size.
The theory of the Donnan membrane equilibrium has important applications in colloid chemistry and in the technologies of leather and gelatin, but above all in the understanding of the living cell, where it can give a quantitative account of ionic equilibria both within the cell and between the cell and its environment.
None of Donnan’s subsequent work approaches this in importance. In later years he guided his department in London on a very loose rein, welcoming promising young men and leaving them free to follow their own interests. He became interested in the speculative and cosmological aspects of biology, and many of his later publications concern these topics. He wrote no book but was the author of more than 100 papers.
Donnan was a founding member of the Faraday Society and its president in 1924-1926, fellow of the Chemical Society and its president in 1937-1939, fellow of the Royal Society, fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and president of the British Association of Chemists in 1940-1941.
Faraday Society
,
United Kingdom
Chemical Society
,
United Kingdom
British Association of Chemists
,
United Kingdom
Royal Society
,
United Kingdom
Royal Society of Edinburgh
,
United Kingdom
Personality
Donnan was a wealthy, cultured, and highly articulate man, fond of travel and much given to hospitality.
Physical Characteristics:
Donnan was blind in one eye as the result of a childhood accident; because of this he is often shown in profile.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service.