Who was Sir William Ramsay? Google Doodle pays tribute to the chemist

SCOTTISH chemist Sir William Ramsay changed the periodic table forever after he discovered a number of noble gases including helium and neon.

Due to his important discoveries he was dubbed by many as the “greatest chemical discoverer of his time”.

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Who was Sir William Ramsay?

Ramsay was born in Glasgow on October 2, 1852, and made his name for the discovery of the noble gases.

He studied chemistry from an early age and went on to gain his doctorate at the University of Tubingen, Germany.

After returning to the UK he worked in a number of colleges before taking up the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at University College, London, in 1887.

In that role he researched liquids and vapours, publishing a number of papers and books.

However he changed the focus of his research after he learned the British physicist Lord Rayleigh had noted that nitrogen in the earth’s atmosphere had a higher atomic weight than nitrogen in the lab.

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He concluded that previously unknown gases must be present in the atmosphere.

Ramsey and Lord Rayleigh eventually announced the joint discovery of argon, a chemically inert gas.

Extending his research he went on to discover helium with his team then going on to identify other noble gases such as neon, krypton and xenon.

The discovery of the noble gases led to the periodic table being redrawn.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1902.

Two years later he was given the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

He married Margaret Buchanan in 1881 and the couple and a daughter and a son.

Sir Ramsay died on July 23, 1916, from nasal cancer at the age of 63.

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What does William Ramsay's Google Doodle show?

Google is celebrating Sir William Ramsay on what would have been his 167th birthday.

The Doodle spells out the logo using the periodic table.

It was created by artist Kevin Laughlin.

What is a Google Doodle?

In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.

The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.

Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.

Google kicked off 2019 with an animated Doodle of New Year's Eve celebrations.

And on February 5, 2019, the Chinese New Year was celebrated with a hand animation transforming into a pig.

St Patrick's Day on March 17 was remembered with a Celtic Google Doodle.

And on March 21, Google Doodle used AI for the first time in a tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Doodle allowed users to create their own tune.

And Google also celebrated the Women's World Cup with Doodles for each participating team.