Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916) was a Scottish chemist who, with Baron Rayleigh, isolated the first rare atmospheric gas, argon. Ramsay also discovered the other inert gases: helium, neon, krypton, and xenon. For this work, he received the 1904 Nobel prize for chemistry. His explanation of me nature of these elements led to important ideas about atomic structure. The gases also have great practical importance.
Ramsay was born in Glasgow and studied in Germany at Heidelberg and Tübingen universities. He taught at Glasgow and Bristol, and at University College in London. He was knighted in 1902, and in 1911, he became president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
