Abstract
THE death of Sir James Walker at Edinburgh on May 6, in his seventy-third year, severs one of the last links between classical and modern physical chemistry. Closely connected in work and friendship with the three great founders of the science on the Continentâ van't Hoff, Ostwald and Arrheniusâ Walker may be justly regarded, indeed, as the protagonist of physical chemistry in Great Britain during the last forty years. His text-book, “Introduction to Physical Chemistry”, has passed through ten editions since its first appearance in 1899, and has probably assisted more students towards an easy, yet serious, appreciation of the science than any other single volume. Several of the more significant chapters of the subjects for example, those on hydrolysis and amphoteric electrolytesâ were largely his own original work. Walker was also, however, a skilled organic chemist, and his success in attacking purely technical problems was exceptional. In an age of increasing specialisation, he retained to the last an unusually wide range of interests, and kept himself up to date in a great many diverse fields. Remembering the bitter controversies in which he participated as a young man, while the revolutionary ideas regarding the nature of solutions were being forced upon his reluctant seniors, he was always particularly open-minded in his attitude towards the work of the second generation of physical chemists which has recently effected another revolution in this same field. He recognised quite complacently that, if they could see farther than Arrhenius, it was, after all, only because they were standing on Arrhenius's shoulders.
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KENDALL, J. Sir James Walker, F.R.S. Nature 135, 863–864 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135863a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135863a0