Thomas Purdie

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Thomas Purdie (1843–1916) was a Scottish chemist who helped unlock the structure of simple sugars and co-founded the University of St Andrews’ School of Chemistry. He worked with James Irvine, and their research contributed to understanding carbohydrate chemistry. The building that houses St Andrews’ School of Chemistry is named after him.

Life
Purdie was born on January 27, 1843, in Biggar, South Lanarkshire, the eldest son of Thomas Purdie and Margaret Smith. He spent seven years of his youth in South America. After a conversation with Thomas Henry Huxley, he decided to train as an industrial chemist. Around 1871 he joined the Royal School of Mines in London, then studied at Würzburg University in Germany, where he earned a PhD in Chemistry. He taught in South Kensington and later in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

In 1884 he became Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews. One of his notable students was Alexander McKenzie. A very old wall chart of the periodic table found at St Andrews in 2014 is believed to have been purchased by Purdie in 1885, highlighting his early involvement with chemical education.

Purdie retired in 1909 and died in St Andrews on December 14, 1916, aged 73. He is buried in the eastern cemetery extension of St Andrews Cathedral, alongside his parents.

Family
He was married to Mary Anne Purdie (1843–1918).