author
Alexander Findlay
1874–1966
A Scottish chemist and science writer, he helped make physical chemistry easier to study through clear, practical books that stayed in use for years. His career took him from Aberdeen to Leipzig, Birmingham, Aberystwyth, and back to Aberdeen, where he led the chemistry department.
1 Audiobook
The Phase Rule and Its Applications
by Alexander Findlay
About the author
Born in Johnshaven, Scotland, in 1874, Alexander Findlay trained at Aberdeen and later earned a Ph.D. at Leipzig in 1900. He went on to teach chemistry at the University of Birmingham, became professor of chemistry at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1911, and from 1919 served at the University of Aberdeen, where he was professor and departmental leader.
Findlay is best remembered as a chemist who also wrote for a broad audience. His books included Practical Physical Chemistry, The Phase Rule and its Applications, and Chemistry in the Service of Man, works that helped students and general readers approach chemistry as a living, useful subject rather than a remote theory.
He also contributed to the 1926 Encyclopædia Britannica and kept a diary during a visiting professorship at Stanford in 1924–1925. He died in 1966 at the age of 92, leaving behind a reputation for careful teaching, accessible writing, and long service to chemistry in Aberdeen and beyond.