Elizabeth Fulhame

Elizabeth Fulhame
Elizabeth Fulhame
Known for	The concept of catalysis and discovering photoreduction
Spouse	Thomas Fulhame
Awards	Honorary member of the Philadelphia Chemical Society
	Scientific career
Fields	chemistry
Notes

Elizabeth Fulhame (fl. 1794) was an early British chemist who invented the concept of catalysis and discovered photoreduction. She was described as 'the first solo woman researcher of modern chemistry'.^[1]^[2]

Although she only published one text, she describes catalysis as a process at length in her 1794 book An Essay On Combustion with a View to a New Art of Dying and Painting, wherein the Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Hypotheses are Proved Erroneous. The book relates in painstaking detail her experiments with oxidation-reduction reactions, and the conclusions she draws regarding phlogiston theory, in which she disagrees with both the Phlogistians and Antiphlogistians.^[3]

In 1798, the book was translated into German by Augustin Gottfried Ludwig Lentin as Versuche über die Wiederherstellung der Metalle durch Wasserstoffgas. In 1810, it was published in the United States, to much critical acclaim.^[4] That same year, Fulhame was made an honorary member of the Philadelphia Chemical Society.^[5]^[6] Thomas P. Smith applauded her work, stating that "Mrs. Fulhame has now laid such bold claims to chemistry that we can no longer deny the sex the privilege of participating in this science also."^[1]

^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Rayner-Canham was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Burwick, Frederick; Goslee, Nancy Moore; Hoeveler, Diane Long, eds. (2012). The encyclopedia of Romantic literature. Chichester, West Sussex [England]: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405188104. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
^ Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century (4th print. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. pp. 28–31. ISBN 978-0-262-65038-0.
^ "Celebrating Scottish women of science". National Library of Scotland. Archived from the original on 15 July 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
^ "Elizabeth Fulhame". The Human Touch of Chemistry. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.

[Rayner-Canham-1] Cite error: The named reference Rayner-Canham was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:0-2] Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Burwick-3] Burwick, Frederick; Goslee, Nancy Moore; Hoeveler, Diane Long, eds. (2012). The encyclopedia of Romantic literature. Chichester, West Sussex [England]: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405188104. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.

[Ogilvie-4] Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). Women in Science: Antiquity through the Nineteenth Century (4th print. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. pp. 28–31. ISBN 978-0-262-65038-0.

[5] "Celebrating Scottish women of science". National Library of Scotland. Archived from the original on 15 July 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.

[Human-6] "Elizabeth Fulhame". The Human Touch of Chemistry. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.

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