Samuel James Manson Auld

Born in Kilmarnock in 1882, Samuel James Manson Auld was a Scottish chemist whose work seems to have crossed from academic research into practical teaching and military service. Records tied to his early career show that he completed a doctoral dissertation at the University of Würzburg in 1904 on organic mercury compounds, placing him within the world of serious laboratory science.

Auld also wrote on applied chemistry. He is associated with Practical Agricultural Chemistry, a handbook aimed at students, which suggests an interest in making scientific knowledge useful and teachable rather than leaving it only in the laboratory.

He is best remembered as the author of Gas and Flame in Modern Warfare (1918), published during the First World War. Written as Major S. J. M. Auld, the book explains the development and use of poison gas in war and reflects both technical understanding and the urgency of a conflict transformed by modern chemistry. He died in 1963.