Nationality British Fields Chemistry Role Chemist | Name Frederick Kipping Known for Work with Silicone | |
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Born 16 August 1863
Manchester, England ( 1863-08-16 ) Institutions University of Nottingham Alma mater University of London (1882)
Munich University (1887) Died May 1, 1949, Criccieth, United Kingdom Education University of London, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Manchester Grammar School | ||
Doctoral advisor William Henry Perkin, Jr. | ||
Frederic Stanley Kipping FRS (16 August 1863 – 1 May 1949) was an English chemist.
He was born in Manchester, England, the son of James Kipping, a Bank of England official, and educated at Manchester Grammar School before enrolling in 1879 at Owens College (now Manchester University) for an external degree from the University of London. After working for the local gas company for a short time he went in 1886 to Germany to work under William Henry Perkin, Jr. in the laboratories of Adolf von Baeyer at Munich University.
Back in England, he took a position as demonstrator for Perkin, who had been appointed professor at Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh. In 1890, Kipping was appointed chief demonstrator in chemistry for the City and Guilds of London Institute, where he worked for the chemist Henry Edward Armstrong. In 1897 he moved to University College, Nottingham as professor of the chemistry department, and became the first newly endowed Sir Jesse Boot professor of chemistry at the university in 1928. He remained there until his retirement in 1936.
Kipping undertook much of the pioneering work into the development of silicon polymers (silicones) at Nottingham. He pioneered the study of the organic compounds of silicon (organosilicon) and coined the term silicone. His research formed the basis for the worldwide development of the synthetic rubber and silicone-based lubricant industries. He also co-wrote, with Perkin, a standard textbook in organic chemistry (Organic Chemistry, Perkin and Kipping, 1899).
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June, 1897. He was awarded their Davy Medal in 1918 and delivered their Bakerian Lecture in 1936.
He retired in 1936 and died in Criccieth, Wales. He had married in 1888 Lilian Holland, one of three sisters. Both his brothers-in-law were eminent scientists themselves (Arthur Lapworth and William Henry Perkin, Jr.)