William Higgins ( ? 1762 - 1825 )

Birth: Collooney, County Sligo, Ireland (1762 or 1763) Death: Dublin, Ireland (30 June 1825) Profession: Chemist Research Field: Chemistry Education: Pembroke College, Oxford (1786-1788) did not complete degree Career: Assistant to his uncle Dr Bryan Higgins, physician and chemist who ran a school of practical chemistry in Greek Street, Soho, London, but left after a disagreement; wrote "a comprehensive view of the phlogistic and anti-phlogistic theories" (1789) which contributed to the demise of phlogistic theories and suggested the existence of atoms and attractions between them; Chemist to the Apothecaries Company of Ireland (1791); Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Dublin Society (1791-1825); Chemist and librarian, Royal Dublin Society (1795); worked on minor industrial applications of chemistry such as bleaching for the Irish Linen Board; founder member of Kirwanian Society (1812).