Edward Charles Howard FRS (28 May 1774 – 28 September 1816)^[1], the youngest son of the Duke of Norfolk, was a British chemist who has been described as "the first chemical engineer of any eminence.^[2]

In 1800, Howard was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London for his work on mercury. He discovered mercury fulminate, a powerful primary explosive. In 1813 he invented a method of refining sugar which involved boiling the cane juice not in an open kettle, but in a closed vessel heated by steam and held under partial vacuum. At reduced pressure, water boils at a lower temperature, and so Howard's development both saved fuel and reduced the amount of sugar lost through caramelization. The invention, known as Howard's vacuum pan, is still in use.

Howard also was interested in the composition of meteorites especially in "natural iron" ones. He found that many of these contained an alloy of nickel and iron that was not found on Earth, and thus they may have fallen from the sky. One type of meteorite is now known as Howardite.

[edit] References

1. ^ Walker, William (1864). Memoirs of the distinguished men of science of Great Britain living in the years 1807-1808. London: E. & F. N. Spon. pp. 63 – 64. http://books.google.com/books?id=UTwBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA63&dq=Edward+Charles+howard&as_brr=1#PPA63,M1. 
2. ^ Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (1951), volume 29, page 163.

[edit] Further reading

• Kurzer, F. (1999). "The Life and Work of Edward Charles Howard". Annals of Science 56: 113–141. doi:10.1080/000337999296445. 

• Howard, Edward (1800). "On a New Fulminating Mercury". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 90 (1): 204–238. doi:10.1098/rstl.1800.0012. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0261-0523%281800%2990%3C204%3AOANFMB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L. 

• Sears, Derek W. (1976). "Edward Charles Howard and an early British contribution to meteoritics". J. Brit. Aston. Assoc. 86: 133–139. http://www.uark.edu/depts/cosmo/publications/pub%20by%20year/1976%20papers/sears%201976.pdf. 

Awards
Preceded by John Hellins	Copley Medal 1800	Succeeded by Astley Cooper

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