author
William Edwards Henderson
b. 1870
Best remembered as a chemistry educator and textbook co-author, he helped shape how generations of students first encountered the subject. His books were written to make chemistry practical, orderly, and easier to teach in the classroom.
2 Audiobooks
An Elementary Study of Chemistry
by William McPherson, William Edwards Henderson
A Further Investigation of the Symmetrical Chloride of Paranitroorthosulphobenzoic Acid
by William Edwards Henderson
About the author
Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1870, William Edwards Henderson became an American chemist and teacher whose career was closely tied to higher education and science instruction. He studied at the College of Wooster and later earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.
Henderson taught chemistry at Ohio State University for decades, serving during a period when chemistry was becoming a much larger part of college study in the United States. He is especially associated with a long-running collaboration with fellow chemist William McPherson.
Together they wrote influential textbooks and laboratory manuals, including An Elementary Study of Chemistry, a work that remained in use through multiple editions. For many readers, Henderson’s lasting importance comes from that talent for turning a demanding scientific subject into something clearer and more teachable.