Who won the first nobel prize

He was born into a Quaker family as the fourth of six children to William T. Richards, a marine and landscape artist, and poet Anna Matlack.

Nobel laureate pronunciation

Richards was home-schooled by his mother, and during the summer months, his family would reside in their home in Newport, Rhode Island, where their neighbor was Harvard University chemistry professor J. Cooke Jr. It was Cooke who sparked Richards' interest in science. At the age of 14, Richards entered Haverford College as a second-year student and excelled in the fields of chemistry and astronomy.

In , he graduated at the top of his class and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. That same fall, he enrolled at Harvard University to study under Cooke, and in , he completed the course with outstanding results. As a graduate student under Cooke, Richards focused on the study of atomic weights, specifically the relationship between atomic masses.

Most famous nobel prize winners

In the early 19th century, English scientist William Prout hypothesized that all chemical elements were composed of hydrogen atoms. He based this on the experimental fact that the atomic mass of any element is approximately a multiple of the hydrogen atom's mass. For example, the atomic mass of chlorine was found to be Stanislao Cannizzaro proposed a rational system of atomic weights based on clear distinctions between atoms, molecules, and equivalents, bringing clarity to the confusion surrounding these concepts.

Nevertheless, the reliability of atomic weight values remained uncertain by the end of the 19th century. Richards focused on determining the atomic masses of oxygen and hydrogen. He developed an innovative method that involved burning a specific quantity of hydrogen with copper oxide, resulting in the formation of water.