Papers and Notes of Professor Thomas Charles Hope (1766-1844)

The papers and notes of Professor Hope at Gen. 268-272 consist of lecture notes on Chemistry and some miscellaneous papers from circa 1790-1842. At Dc.10.9-15 there are notebooks of lectures by Professors Black, Cullen, Gregory, Monro, Robison and Walker, taken down by Hope at Edinburgh University circa 1782-1787. At Gen.1398-1400 are volumes of lectures on Chemistry given at Edinburgh University, 1809-1810.

Thomas Charles Hope was born in 1766. He studied at Edinburgh's Royal High School and then Edinburgh University where he graduated in 1787 and published his dissertation Tentamen Inaugurale quaedam de Plantarum Motibus et Vita, complactens. In 1787 too, Hope was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Glasgow University then resigned in 1789 when he became Assistant Professor of Medicine. In 1795, Hope was elected joint Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University with Joseph Black (1728-1799), and when Black died he became sole Professor. Early in his career, Hope put forward two important pieces of research. Firstly, in 1793, before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he gave An account of a mineral from Strontian, and of a peculiar species of Earth which it contains - the mineral being strontium carbonate discovered at Strontian, Argyllshire. Secondly, he established that water attained its maximum density several degrees above the freezing point. Other scientific papers included those on the chemical and colouring matters in the leaves and flowers of plants. Hope resigned his Professorship during the 1842-43 session, and died in Edinburgh on 13 June 1844.

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The biographical history was compiled using the following material: (1) Dictionary of national biography, Vol.9. Harris-Hovenden (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1908).

An important finding aid is the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives. Additions to the typed slips in sheaf binders were made until 1987.

The Index to Manuscripts shows references to notes of lectures on Chemistry taken down by students, at various shelfmarks. There are also letters of Hope to Professor Black.

The biographical history was compiled using the following material: (1) Dictionary of national biography, Vol.9. Harris-Hovenden (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1908).