17 Facts About Humphry Bowen

Humphry John Moule Bowen was a British botanist and chemist.

Humphry Bowen attended the Dragon School, gaining a scholarship to Rugby School and then a demyship to Magdalen College, Oxford.

Humphry Bowen won the Gibbs Prize in 1949 and completed a DPhil in chemistry at Oxford University in 1953 before starting his professional career as a chemist.

Humphry Bowen was a proficient amateur actor in his early years, appearing with a young Ronnie Barker at Oxford.

Humphry Bowen realized that the calibration of different instruments intended to measure trace elements was an important issue that needed addressing.

Humphry Bowen's solution was to produce a good supply of a material which later become known as Bowen's Kale.

At Reading, Humphry Bowen undertook consultancy for Dunlop, investigating potential uses for their products.

Humphry Bowen wrote a number of professional books in the field of chemistry, including two editions of Trace elements in Biochemistry.

In 1968, Humphry Bowen noted that the paint used for yellow line road markings can contain chromate pigment, which may cause urban pollution as it deteriorates.

Humphry Bowen pointed out that hexavalent chromium in dust can cause dermatitis ulceration on the skin, inflammation of the nasal mucosa and larynx, and lung cancer.

From 1951 onwards, Humphry Bowen was a long-serving member of the Botanical Society of the British Isles.

Humphry Bowen was meetings secretary for a period and the official recorder of plants for the counties of Berkshire and Dorset, producing Floras for both counties.

Humphry Bowen retired to Winterborne Kingston in Dorset at the end of his life.

Humphry Bowen was one of the leading contributors of botanical data for the Flora of Oxfordshire.

Humphry Bowen acted as an expert botanical guide on tours around Europe, especially Greece and Turkey.

Humphry Bowen donated a large collection of lichens from Berkshire and Oxfordshire to the Museum of Reading in the 1970s.

Humphry Bowen established the Bowen Cup at the University of Reading in 1988, an annual prize for the student in the Department of Chemistry at the University who achieves the top marks in Part II Analytical Chemistry.