History - People - Sir Eric Kneightly Rideal

Sir Eric Kneightly Rideal (1890 - 1974) Tenure: Part time lecturer (late 1920's/30's)

Sir Eric Rideal was the son of Samuel Rideal . He was educated at Oundle, and then Cambridge. After obtaining a PhD in chemistry with with Richard C Anschütz (Kékulé's successor) in Bonn (Germany) he became a lecturer in colloid science at Cambridge (1930-46) where he established a leading laboratory for the study of colloid and surface chemistry and catalysis. He then became Fullerian Professor and Director of the Royal Institution , and finally ended up at a minor Anglican Institution on the Strand from 1950-1955.

Sir Eric is best remembered through the famous Eley-Rideal mechanism for surface reactions and for his textbook "Introduction to Surface Chemistry" (1926). However he also worked with his father on problems of water quality and in 1914 coauthored "Water supplies: Their purification, filtration and sterilization". He also wrote an early book on "Ozone" (1920).

Rideal attended the lab dinner regularly and his participation is remembered fondly by Alwyn Davies and Bob Cooper .

This page last modified 20 September, 2010