Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, 1st Baronet (17 July 18276 September 1902) was an English chemist who was recognised as the leading British authority on explosives. He is best known for the invention of cordite as a replacement for gunpowder in firearms.
Education
Born in London as son of Johann Leopold Abel, Abel studied chemistry at the Royal Polytechnic Institution and in 1845 became one of the original 26 students of A. W. von Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry (now a constituent of Imperial College London). In 1852 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, He was also president of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1891 and was awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal in 1897 for his work on problems of steel manufacture. He was awarded the Telford Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1879.
He was made a Commander of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1877. and knighted on 20 April 1883
He took an important part in the work of the Inventions Exhibition (London) in 1885, and in 1887 became organizing secretary and first director of the Imperial Institute, a position he held till his death in 1902. He was Rede Lecturer and received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in 1888. He was upgraded Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 3 February 1891, created a baronet, of Cadogan Place in the Parish of Chelsea in the County of London, on 25 May 1893 and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) on 8 March 1901.
Abel died at his residence in Whitehall Court, London, on 6 September 1902, aged 75, and was buried in Nunhead Cemetery, London.
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Books
thumb|Mining accidents and their prevention, 1889
- Handbook of Chemistry (with C. L. Bloxam)
- The Modern History of Gunpowder (1866)
- Gun-cotton (1866)