I first learned about British physicist and chemist Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) several months ago, while working on my episode on X-rays. Recently, while reading Violet Tweedale’s Ghosts I Have Seen and Other Psychic Experiences, I learned that Sir William had an interest in spiritual and paranormal matters in addition to the sciences. In this episode, I focus on some of his better known scientific discoveries (and will discuss his relationship to the paranormal next time).

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References

Barral, Miguel. “The Ghosts of William Crookes.” https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/the-ghosts-of-william-crookes/

Crookes, Sir William. On radiant matter [microform] : a lecture delivered to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Sheffield, Friday, August 22, 1879. https://archive.org/details/onradiantmatterl00croorich/page/7/mode/2up

Division of Chemical Education, Purdue University. “6.1 Crookes' Tube.” https://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/demosheets/6.1.htm

National MagLab. “William Crookes.” https://nationalmaglab.org/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/pioneers/william-crookes/

Sella, Andrea. “Crookes' tube.” https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/crookes-tube/8381.article

Travis, Anthony S. “Introduction: Food or Famine.” https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-68963-0_1

Tweedale, Violet. Ghosts I Have Seen and Other Psychic Experiences. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39769/39769-h/39769-h.htm#Page_33

Wikipedia“Atomic, molecular, and optical physics.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic,_molecular,_and_optical_physics#Optical_physics“Crookes radiometer.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_radiometer“Organic chemistry.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry“Phenakistiscope.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenakistiscope“Robert Bunsen.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bunsen“William Crookes.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Crookes

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