Talk:William Crookes

Latest comment: 9 years ago by Green Cardamom in topic Hinshelwood source

This is a direct copy. edit

This site (http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/icl/heyes/LanthAct/Biogs/Crookes.html) was copy-and-pasted into this Wikipedia article. Even though the originating site is listed, I think that that is still a severe no-no.

Crookes edit

Hi, can somebody make a disambig as follows:

  • crookes
    • Crookes (district) of City Sheffield
    • William Crookes - English chemist and physicist

thanks  :Peter439 19:47, 3 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

The page for Crookes in Sheffield contains a pointer to William the scientist. DFH 20:09, 1 February 2007 (UTC)Reply

discoverer of true electron direction edit

aside from plagiarism, this guy is responsible for the discovery and proof of the true electron flow (- to +) rather than the conventional flow (+ to -) assumed by Benjamin Franklin. source: http://www.3rd1000.com/history/electrons.htm search on "William Crookes" Mdoc7 (talk) 23:08, 2 March 2008 (UTC)Reply

Author of 'The Wheat Problem' edit

Sir William Crookes gave an address to the British Association in Bristol (1898). This can be considered as based deeply in Malthusian theory of population pressures. The address was titled The Wheat Problem, and subsequent publications in written form have been produced. 16 March 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.209.6.41 (talk) 12:08, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Sources edit

The work cited by Conan Doyle is frankly an apologia for spritualism and not the best source for Crookes's view. A useful counterbalance would be Hall, and Oppenheim seems a good and balanced view. Cusop Dingle (talk) 19:48, 15 January 2012 (UTC)Reply

I am removing Doyle from the article. He was an apologist to spiritualism, even believing fairies were real. He was credulous on anything occult related and most of what he has written has been demonstrated to be false (see the writings of Joseph McCabe or Massimo Polidoro etc). But yes, Hall and Oppenheim are better and more reliable than Doyle. Goblin Face (talk) 16:17, 29 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Cromwell F. Varley edit

Various sources state that it was Varley who influenced Crookes to originally look into spiritualism after his son had died. Trevor H. Hall writes "Mr. Cromwell F. Varley, F.R.S., the electrical engineer, was a convinced spiritualist who had known Crookes since the death of Philip Crookes in 1867. According to Crookes's biographer, it was Varley who persuaded Crookes to try and get into communication with his dead brother by means of spiritualism." From Hall's The Spiritualists: The Story of Florence Cook and William Crookes. p. 47. I put other sources that document this on the article. Hall's reference to "Crookes' biographer" was Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe, he wrote the first biography of Crookes in 1923. It is a very useful balanced biography, I added it in the further reading section. So much more can be added to the article but I don't have the time to do this. The spiritualism section also should not take up too much of the article. Would be nice if Crookes' scientific work could also be expanded. The most recent biography of Crookes is by William Hodson Brock and this book contains a goldmine of information. Goblin Face (talk) 16:35, 29 November 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hinshelwood source edit

On Dec 18, 2006, User:Astrochemist left a meta-note in the external links section.[1] It said "much of the article is derived from the source:

  • Hinshelwood, Cyril Norman, "William Crookes, A Victorian man of science". 1927.

Given how much time has passed and introduction of new material and sources.. and uncertainty over what material is from this source, I have removed that notice, but moved the source from the External links to the References section. -- GreenC 14:48, 4 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

(Anonymous user adding:)I was unable to locate this book or even verify its existence (worldcat, googlebooks, ). I guess it's an article? Then it should be quoted correctly.