Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Smithson Tennant: Selby-born agronomist, educator, europhile and elemental chemist

Dr David Lewis,
Chemist and local historian of Selby

Smithson Tennant was born in Selby, North Yorkshire, from modest beginnings he went on to:

• Discover iridium and osmium
• Hold the 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge
• Be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
• Win the Royal Society’s Copley Medal
• Become a confidante of many of Europe’s well-known scientists.

Report

A large audience at this outreach event in the Town Hall, Selby heard a stirring account of Tennant’s family background and public life. He is, of course, famous for discovering the elements osmium and iridium, but his many collaborations in other discoveries such as the science behind the Davey safety lamp are less well known or acknowledged. Tennant’s lectures as Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge were attended by a young Charles Babbage who describes him, in his memoirs, a friend as well as an entertaining and valued instructor, relating in some detail Tennant’s accidental death in Boulogne. David Lewis suggested humorously that Tennant may have been the first person to adopt ‘cut and paste’, a reference to the editing methods in recently found original notes by the Yorkshire scientist.

Ken Hutson

Further Information

David Lewis has also contributed an article about Smithson Tennant as part of the YPS “Yorkshire Scientists & Innovators” series which is available on the YPS website by following this link.