Hugh Stott Taylor
British chemist (1890–1974)
Sir Hugh Stott Taylor (6 February 1890 – 17 April 1974) was an English chemist primarily interested in catalysis. In 1925, in a landmark contribution to catalytic theory, Taylor suggested that a catalysed chemical reaction is not catalysed over the entire solid surface of the catalyst but only at certain 'active sites' or centres.
He also developed important methods for procuring heavy water during World War II and pioneered the use of stable isotopes in studying chemical reactions.
Early life
Taylor was born in St Helens, Lancashire, England, in 1890, the son of glass technologist James and Ellen (née Stott) Taylor. He was educated at Cowley Grammar School in St Helens and then attended the University of Liverpool, where he received his BSc in 1909 and his MSc in 1910. Taylor then carried out three years of graduate work in Liverpool, after which he spent one year at the Nobel Institute in Stockholm in the laboratory of Svante Arrhenius and another at the Technische Hochschule in Hanover under Max Bodenstein. These studies earned him a PhD degree from the University of Liverpool in 1914.
Basic research
Taylor showed that chemisorption may be an activated process, and occur slowly. Moreover, he conceived the idea that chemically active sites might be sparse on the surface of a catalyst and, hence, could be inhibited with relatively few molecules.
Taylor showed that hydrogen atoms are key intermediates of reactions involving H2 on metal surfaces and also discovered the conversion of heptane to toluene over
chromium oxide.
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