Crum Brown: knitting the world
Celebrating the 180th birthday of the man who illustrated the chemical bond
You could be forgiven for not recognising the name Alexander Crum Brown (1838–1922). In his obituary, James Walker wrote ‘Had he possessed a spark of worldly ambition, his name would occupy a more prominent position in the history of science than to-day it does, for in actual achievement he is worthy to rank with Joseph Black [who discovered carbon dioxide], his great predecessor in the Edinburgh Chair [of Chemistry]’.