Charles Greville Williams

Charles H. Greville Williams (September 22, 1829 - June 15, 1910), was an English Scientist and analytical Chemist who published many scientific papers (from 1853).

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Williams was born at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society in 1862.

Throughout the later 19th century, many chemists attempted to determine the makeup of natural rubber, with the goal of reproducing it. In 1860 Charles Greville Williams analyzed rubber by destructive distillation and obtained a large quantity of a light oil which he termed isoprene (polymer of the monomer isoprene—formula CH2:C(CH3)CH:CH2). Many efforts were made during the next 70 years to synthesize rubber in the laboratory by using isoprene as the monomer.

In 1868 he established the Brentford dyestuff works Williams, Thomas and Dower. The firm was liquidated in 1878 and in 1879 his two elder sons Rupert and Lewis established a dyestuffs factory at Hounslow with the help of former employees.

Charles Greville Williams died at Horley and is buried in Streatham.

References

Barron, Harry. Modern Synthetic Rubbers, 3rd ed. London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd., 1949.

Herbert, Vernon and Attilio Bisio. Synthetic Rubber: A Project That Had to Succeed. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985.

Wolf, Howard and Ralph. Rubber: A Story of Glory and Greed. New York: Covici, Friede, 1936.

http://www.pslc.ws/macrog/exp/rubber/synth/slow.htm

http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=221032