Helen Simpson Gilchrist was born in 1896 in Largo, Fifeshire. Her father, James Gilchrist, was a stone and brick builder. Her mother was Elizabeth Gillis. During her time at St. Andrews, Gilchrist benefitted from the…
When six Chemistry research students arrived at the University of St Andrews in the early 1920s, they joined a department of world-renowned scientists. Within this collaborative environment, each would go on to produce…
Gertrude Maud Walsh was born in Cheshire to Thomas Makinson and Mary Emily Walsh. She married the chemist Robert Robinson in 1912. They had two children: Marion and Michael Robinson. Gertrude Robinson conducted…
Constant Frederik Van Duin was born in 1891 in Vollenhove, Holland. He obtained a Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Science at Utrecht University in 1912, 1914, and 1918, respectively. Throughout his university years, he…
Hidejiro Nishikawa was born c. 1892 and lived in Tokyo, Japan. From 1921–1923, he conducted chemistry research at the University of St Andrews, which was published shortly thereafter. Some of this research was…
Fridtjof Emil Kjelsberg was born c. 1897 in Winterthur, Switzerland. He obtained a degree in engineering chemistry from the Federal Polytechnicum in Zurich. From 1920-1922, he conducted chemistry research at the…
Jocelyn Patterson was born in 1900 to parents John and Isabella Patterson. He attended the University of Durham and received a BSc in 1919 and an MSc in 1921, then received his PhD from St Andrews in 1922. He served as…
John Masson Gulland was born in Edinburgh in 1898 to parents Helen Orme Masson and Dr. George Lovell Gulland. He served in World War I as an engineer in the Divisional Signals Company. When he returned, he attended…
On the 22nd April 1915, chlorine gas was first released in a small village in Belgium. Its impact would be felt in St Andrews, where its use would change the trajectory of countless lives, including those of Walter…
Edmund Langley Hirst arrived at St Andrews with ambitions of a degree in Classics. His experience in St Andrews’ chemistry laboratories during the First World War would shape his life as a scientific pioneer. There,…