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Eric Rideal

British chemist

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ5387365
Source-derived summary

Sir Eric Keightley Rideal (11 April 1890 – 25 September 1974) was a British physical chemist. He worked on a wide range of subjects, including electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, catalysis, electrophoresis, colloids and surface chemistry. He is best known for the Eley–Rideal mechanism, which he proposed in 1938 with Daniel D. Eley. He is also known for the textbook that he authored, An Introduction to Surface Chemistry (1926), and was awarded honours for the research he carried out during both World Wars and for his services to chemistry.

Early years

Eric Keightley Rideal was born on 11 April 1890 in Sydenham, which at that time was part of the county of Kent. His father was chemist Samuel Rideal, whose work on water purification and disinfection included the Rideal–Walker test. His mother was Elizabeth Keightley, daughter of Samuel Keightley. Rideal was educated at Farnham Grammar School, Surrey, and then at Oundle School, Northamptonshire. In 1907 he won a scholarship in Natural Sciences to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. After graduating in 1910, he continued his studies in Germany, obtaining his PhD in chemistry in 1912 at the University of Bonn under Richard Anschütz.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Eric Rideal” as british chemist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Eric, Rideal and British.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1890, 1974, 1938, 1926—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1890-04-11, 1890-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Eric, Rideal and British providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Eric Rideal”, the useful work is to connect “british chemist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5387365. VIAF identifies the subject as 73935613. The Library of Congress control number is n86020538. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1974, 1938 and 1926.

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This entry incorporates text from Eric Rideal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.