Name: Natalie Boyle

Date: 9/19/14

Periodic-als Scientist Interview

Scientist Selected: William Ramsay
Why did you select this scientist? I didnt previously know anything about him and wanted to
learn about a completely new person.

Basic Info:
Full Name: Sir William Ramsay
Country of Birth: Glasgow, Scotland
Birth and death year: October 2, 1852 & July 23, 1916

10 Interview Questions:
1. What made you originally interested in chemistry?
2. What was your famous discovery?
3. How did you discover the new elements?
4. Where did you go to school?
5. Who have you previously worked with ?
6. What was your greatest achievement?
7. Family?
8. Hobbies and interests?
9. What were some setbacks during your career?
10. Where did the name noble gases come from? Why did you choose to call them that?

Source for Basic Info
Title: Sir William Ramsay - Biographical
MLA Citation: "Sir William Ramsay - Biographical." Sir William Ramsay -
Biographical. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.



Scientist Interview Question Facts

Source 1 Title: http://www.famousscientists.org/william-ramsay/
MLA Citation:

Source 2 Title: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/490808/Sir-William-Ramsay
MLA Citation:

Interview Question #1: What made you originally interested in chemistry?
1. Nephew of Sir Andrew Ramsay, the famous geologist.
2. Inspired by Lord Rayleigh and his major discovery in 1892, of the atomic weight of
Nitrogen was higher than that of Nitrogen found in the atmosphere.
3. Originally started in organic chemistry.


Interview Question #2: What was your famous discovery?
1. established a whole new group in the periodic table, variously called over time the
inert, rare, or noble gases.
2. he became known for the inventiveness and scrupulousness of his experimental
techniques, especially for his methods for determining the molecular weights of
substances in the liquid state.
3. Along with many publishes and papers, he discovered and placed in the periodic table
argon, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon.

Interview Question #3: How did you discover these elements?
1. In 1898 he and the British chemist Morris W. Travers isolated these elementscalled
neon, krypton, and xenonfrom air brought to a liquid state at low temperature and
high pressure.
2. Working with the British chemist Frederick Soddy in 1903, Ramsay demonstrated that
helium (together with a gaseous emanation called radon) is continually produced
during the radioactive decay of radium.
3. In 1910, using tiny samples of radon, Ramsay proved that it was a sixth noble gas,
and he provided further evidence that it was formed by the emission of a helium
nucleus from radium.


Interview Question #4: Where did you attend school?
1. Ramsay began his studies in his native city of Glasgow and completed a doctorate in
chemistry at Tbingen, focusing on organic chemistry
2. He earned his doctorate at the University of Tbingen. Ramsay then became
Andersons assistant at the Anderson College. He was appointed the Professor of
Chemistry at the University College of Bristol in 1879.
3. In 1880 he was appointed Principal and Professor of Chemistry at University College,
Bristol, and moved on in 1887 to the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at University
College, London, a post which he held until his retirement in 1913.

Interview Question #5: Who have you previously worked with ?
1. William Ramsay worked with Lord Rayleigh in proving that there must exist a
previously unknown gas in the atmosphere and discovering aragon.
2. While working with chemist Morris W. Travers in 1898, Ramsay isolated three more
elements from liquid air at low temperature and high pressure, and termed them as
neon, krypton, and xenon
3. In collaboration with another chemist, Frederick Soddy, in 1903, Ramsay showed that
helium, together with radon, is consistently generated during the radioactive decay of
radium.

Interview Question #6: Family?

1. Born to William Ramsay, C.E. and Catherine, ne Robertson. His father was a civil
engineer.
2. In 1881 Ramsay married Margaret, the daughter of George Stevenson Buchanan.
3. Together they had one son and one daughter.

Interview Question #7: What was your greatest achievement?
1. Was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904 - "in recognition of his services in the
discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of
their place in the periodic system".
2. William Ramsay was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1888, and was knighted
three years later, in 1902
3. Received many scientific honours and of a great number of honorary memberships,
viz. of the Institut de France, the Royal Academies of Ireland, Berlin, Bohemia, The
Netherlands, Rome,and many more.

Interview Question #8: Interests/hobbies?
1. Ramsay had many interests, including languages, music, and travel.
2. He was strongly supportive of science education and became deeply involved in the
campaign to obtain government funding for the university colleges.
3. He expanded his range of interests to include the business world, becoming a director
of some (ultimately short-lived) chemical companies. He also wrote semipopular
magazine articles on science, some of which were published.

Interview Question #9: What were some setbacks during your career?
1. As he became older he retired and moved to Buckinghamshire and continued to work
in a private laboratory at his home.
2. Upon the outbreak of war in 1914, he became involved in efforts to secure the
participation of scientific experts in the creation of government science policy but his
experience and extensive research halted.
3. Soon after that, Ramsay was diagnosed with cancer however continued his work until
he died in 1916.

Interview Question #10: How do your discoveries and research help sciences today?
1. Ramsay and Soddys discovery of radioactive decay in radium was a major
breakthrough and is still used today in nuclear chemistry.
2. The noble gasses are still an essential part of the periodic table and are used to form
new elements and used in experiments to this day.
3. Many chemist use Sir William Ramsays publishings to help with their research.