17 Facts About Andrew Ure

Andrew Ure FRS was a Scottish physician, chemist, scriptural geologist, and early business theorist who founded the Garnet Hill Observatory.

Andrew Ure was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society.

Andrew Ure became a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons after his return to Glasgow.

Andrew Ure replaced George Birkbeck as professor of natural philosophy in 1804 at the recently formed Andersonian Institution.

Andrew Ure was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1811.

In 1814, while giving guest lectures in Belfast, Andrew Ure consulted for the Irish linen board, and devised an 'alkalimeter' which gave volumetric estimates of the alkali contents of industrial substances.

Andrew Ure was well known in academia at the time for his practical chemistry knowledge and abilities.

On 4 November 1818 Andrew Ure assisted the professor of anatomy, James Jeffray, in experiments he had been carrying out on the body of a murderer named Matthew Clydesdale, after the man's execution by hanging.

In 1821 Andrew Ure published his first major book, Dictionary of Chemistry, a replacement for William Nicholson's outdated dictionary.

Subsequently, Andrew Ure accused William Henry and Thomas Thomson of plagiarism of his own works.

Andrew Ure moved to London and set himself up as a consulting chemist.

Andrew Ure's work included acting as an expert witness, taking on government commissions, and making industrial tours of England, Belgium, and France.

Andrew Ure was a scriptural geologist and in 1829 published A New System of Geology and was elected an original member of the Geological Society of London.

Andrew Ure said that the Bible was important to the history of the earth.

Andrew Ure distinguished between the present functioning of the universe and its origin in the past.

Andrew Ure died on 2 January 1857 at 18 Upper Seymour Street, Portman Square, London.

Andrew Ure is buried in the Terrace Catacombs of Highgate Cemetery.