About Edward Frankland
Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 1825 – 9 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was a member of the second royal commission on the pollution of rivers, and studied London's water quality for decades. He established the then revolutionary possibility of biological treatment of sewage using a contact bed to oxidize the waste. This concept was taken up by the chief chemist for the London Metropolitan Board of Works, William Dibdin, in 1887. He also studied luminous flames and the effects of atmospheric pressure on dense ignited gas, and was one of the discoverers of helium. As his baptismal record shows, his birth was illegitimate. He was awarded the Society's Royal Medal in 1857 and its Copley Medal in 1894 and was also a member of the X Club. A year later Frankland became professor of chemistry at a newly established school now known as the University of Manchester.
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