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{{Infobox scientist
|name              = William Higgins
|image             =
|image_width       =
|caption           =
|birth_date        = ''ca.'' 1763
|birth_place       = Collooney, Co.&nbsp;Sligo, Ireland
|death_date        = {{death date|1825|6|30|df=y}} (aged 61–63)
|death_place       = Dublin, UK
|field             = 
|workplaces        = 
|alma_mater        = [[University of Oxford]]
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[atomic theory]]
|prizes            = 
|spouse            = 
|footnotes         =
}}
'''William Higgins''' (''ca.'' 1763 – 30 June 1825) was an Irish chemist, best known for his 1789 book ''[[A Comparative View of the Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Theories]]'' in which he anticipated several elements of [[John Dalton|Dalton's]] [[atomic theory]].

Higgins was born in 1762 or 1763 in Collooney, Co.&nbsp;Sligo, as the younger of two sons of Thomas Higgins, a physician and member of a well-known medical family.<ref name="RS">{{citation | webpage = Higgins, William | website = Library and Archive Catalogue | publisher = Royal Society | accessdate = 2011-03-30 | url = http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=%28Surname=%27higgins%27%29&dsqPos=0}}.</ref><ref>{{citation | last = Boylan | first = Henry | year = 1998 | title = A Dictionary of Irish Biography | edition = 3rd | location = Dublin | publishers = Gill and MacMillan | page = 179 | isbn = 0-7171-2945-4}}.</ref> He studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1786 to 1788, but did not take a degree.<ref name="RS"/> He worked for a while as an assistent to his uncle, Bryan Higgins, a physician and chemist who ran a school of practical chemistry on Greek Street in Soho, London, but left after a disagreement{{#tag:ref|While the nature of the disagreement is not specified in sources, Bryan Higgins was a notable proponent of [[phlogiston theory]],<ref name="Smith">{{citation | last = Smith | first = Robert Angus | authorlink = Robert Angus Smith | title = Memoir of John Dalton and History of the Atomic Theory up to His Time | publisher = H.&nbsp;Baillière | location = London | year = 1856 | pages = 167–85 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=ZOsAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA167#v=onepage&q&f=false}}.</ref> while his nephew had just published his book refuting that theory.|group=Note}} and returned to Ireland.<ref name="RS"/> There he worked as a chemist to the Apothecaries' Society of Ireland (from 1791) and then as professor of chemistry at the Royal Dublin Society (from 1795 until his death in 1825). He also studied problems in applied chemistry, such as the development of a new method of bleaching for the Irish Linen Board.<ref name="RS"/> He was elected a member of the [[Royal Irish Academy]] (MRIA) in 1794 and a fellow of the [[Royal Society]] (FRS) in 1806.<ref name="RS"/> He was also a founder member in 1812 of the Kirwanian Society,<ref name="RS"/> a short-lived scientific society "for the cultivation of chemistry, mineralogy and other branches of natural history" named in honour of the Irish scientist [[Richard Kirwan]] (1733–1812).<ref>{{citation | title = The Kerwanian Society of Dublin | journal = Philos. Mag. | year = 1812 | volume = 39 | pages = 319–20}}.</ref><ref>{{citation | first = P. J. | last = McLaughlin | title = The Kirwanian Society (1812–1818?) | journal = Studies: Ir. Q.&nbsp;Rev. | year = 1954 | volume = 43 | pages = 441–50 | jstor = 30079668}}.</ref>

==Notes and references==
===Notes===
{{reflist|group=Note}}

===References===
{{reflist}}

===Further reading===
*{{citation | first1 = T. S. | last1 = Wheeler | first2 = J. R. | last2 = Partington | authorlink2 = J. R. Partington | title = The Life and Work of William Higgins, Chemist (1763–1825) | year = 1960 | publisher = Pergamon | location = Oxford}}.

==External links==
{{wikipedia|William Higgins (chemist)}}

{{Persondata
| NAME              = Higgins, William
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = 
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Irish chemist
| DATE OF BIRTH     = ca. 1763
| PLACE OF BIRTH    = Collooney, Co. Sligo, Ireland
| DATE OF DEATH     = 1825-06-30
| PLACE OF DEATH    = Dublin, UK
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, William}}
[[Category:Irish chemists]]

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