Frederick G. Donnan

Frederick George Donnan CBE FRS (6 September 1870 – 16 December 1956) was an Irish physical chemist who is known for his work on membrane equilibria, and commemorated in the Donnan equilibrium describing ionic transport in cells. He spent most of his career at University College London.

Career

Donnan was born in Colombo, Ceylon, the son of a Belfast merchant, but spent his early life in Ulster. He was blind in one eye as the result of a childhood accident, and is often shown in profile. He studied at Queen's College, Belfast gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1894, then at the University of Leipzig with Wilhelm Ostwald, resulting in a PhD in 1896, followed by research with J. H. van't Hoff. Donnan then became a research student at University College London, joining the academic staff in 1901. In 1903 he became a Lecturer on Organic Chemistry at the Royal College of Science, Dublin, followed a Chair in Physical Chemistry at the University of Liverpool in 1906. In 1913 he returned to University College London, where he remained until his retirement, serving as Head of Department from 1928 to 1937.