Francis Clifford Phillips

Francis Clifford Phillips, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a well-known chemist and author. He worked continuously on the improvement and standardization of methods, and many of the details he established are an integral part of the accepted chemical process for the detection and determination of certain elements. Besides chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and crystallography, he was well informed in botany and bacteriology.

He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1866, but left in his junior year. From 1871-73 he continued his study of chemistry with Karl R. Fresenius in his private laboratory at Wiesbaden, Germany. He studied the following year with Landolt at the Polytechnic School in Aachen. He was unable to complete his work in Germany for a doctorate degree, but continued his studies and received his A.M. degree in 1879 and Ph.D. in 1893 - both from Western University of Pennsylvania.

From 1875 until his retirement in 1915, he was a member of the chemistry staff of the Western University of Pennsylvania - now the University of Pittsburgh. During that time he not only taught all branches of chemistry, but also geology and mineralogy. Additionally, he lectured in chemistry at the Pittsburgh College of Pharmacy from 1878-79.

His book The Composition and Fuel Value of Natural Gas was published in 1887. He edited the second edition of Methods for the Analysis of Ores, Pig Iron, and Steel in Use at the Laboratories of Iron and Steel Works in the Region about Pittsburgh, PA (1901). As a result of his studies in Germany, and in order to help his students and others in utilizing German journals, he wrote a popular textbook entitled Chemical German (1915).

Source: Prabook