UNWISE RELATIONSHIPS AND AN UNSOUND VALENCE THEORY: THE CHEMICAL CAREER OF ROBERT FERGUS HUNTER (1904-1963)

BY WILLIAM H BROCK AND MICHAEL JEWESS

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This work was published in the journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, Ambix, November 2021, 68(4), 407-430. The doi is
https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2021.1984623. The author still has outstanding electronic “offprints” (contact details below).

Abstract

The life of the Imperial College-trained Robert Fergus Hunter (1904-1963) was a Bildungsroman of a gifted chemist who appeared destined for a prominent academic career in organic chemistry. Two circumstances spoiled his chances. In the first place, he became associated with the declining fortunes of the weekly Chemical News. More seriously, as a professor at the Aligarh Muslim University in British India (1930-1936), he published papers on valence theory with the German-Jewish physicist Rudolf Samuel that fatally destroyed his chance of further academic preferment. Instead he became a research chemist in the food and plastic industries. The paper critically assesses Hunter’s work on valence in the context of a careful scientific review of the pre-1939 work of the topic up to of Linus Pauling. It also provides new light on science in India during the 1930s.

CONTACT

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