John Albert Newton Friend (20 July 1881 – 15 April 1966) was a British chemist and educator who specialized in the chemistry of corrosion and its prevention. He was among the first to note that chromium enhances the corrosion resistance of steel. He edited a multi-volume textbook of inorganic chemistry.
Friend was born in Newton Abbott, son of a Methodist clergyman Hilderic Friend, and after the family moved to Birmingham, he was educated there at King Edwards' School and then went to Birmingham University, receiving a BSc in 1902 and MSc in 1903. His teachers included John Henry Poynting and Percy Frankland. He taught for a while at Watford Grammar School to enable him to pay for his study at the University of Würzburg, receiving a doctorate in 1908. He then taught chemistry at the Darlington Technical School until 1912 when he became headmaster at the Victoria Institute Science and Technical Schools, Worcester. During World War I, he served with the Royal Engineers. He moved to the Birmingham Technical College in 1920 and worked there until his retirement in 1946. During World War II, he was involved in training the home guards on chemical warfare.
Friend wrote a number of popular books on chemistry and worked especially on corrosion and its prevention, colloid chemistry, electrochemistry, as well as inorganic chemical reactions. Outside of chemistry, he also took an interest in the history of witchcraft, Birmingham, recreational mathematics and numerology:
- The Theory of Valency, 1909
- An Introduction to the Chemistry of Paints, London, 1910
- Elementary Domestic Chemistry, London, 1911
- The Corrosion of Iron and Steel, London, 1911
- Editor: Textbook of Inorganic Chemistry, 22 volumes, London, 1914–1930
- The Chemistry of Linseed Oil, London, 1917
- The Chemistry of Combustion, London, 1922
- Iron in Antiquity, London, 1926
- A Textbook of Physical Chemistry, 2 volumes, London, 1932–1935, reprinted 1948
- Man and the Chemical Elements, London, 1951
- Numbers: Fun and Facts, New York, 1954
- Words. Tricks and Traditions, New York, 1957
- Science Data, London, 1960
- More Numbers; Fun and Facts, New York, 1961
- Demonology, Sympathetic Magic and Witchcraft, London, 1961
- Still More Numbers: Fun and Facts, New York, 1964
References
- Ray, S.A. "Obituary. Dr. John Albert Newton-Friend" (PDF). Journal of the Oil and Colour Chemists Association. 49 (7): 593–594.
- Friend, John Albert Newton; Vallance, Reece Henry (1922). "LV.—The influence of protective colloids on the corrosion of metals and on the velocity of chemical and physical change". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 121: 466–474. doi:10.1039/CT9222100466. ISSN 0368-1645.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1912). "V.—The porosity of iron and its relation to passivity and corrosion". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 101: 50–56. doi:10.1039/CT9120100050. ISSN 0368-1645.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1921). "CIV.—A colloid theory of the corrosion and passivity of iron, and of the oxidation of ferrous salts". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 119: 932–949. doi:10.1039/CT9211900932. ISSN 0368-1645.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1921). "CXII.—Electrochemical conceptions of valency". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 119: 1040–1047. doi:10.1039/CT9211901040. ISSN 0368-1645.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1923). "CCCLV.—The corrosion of iron in water and in neutral salt solutions". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 123: 2996–2999. doi:10.1039/CT9232302996. ISSN 0368-1645.
- Friend, John Albert Newton; Smirles, William Nelson (1928). "CCXCI.—The solubility of potassium ferricyanide in water between 0° and 100°". J. Chem. Soc.: 2242–2245. doi:10.1039/JR9280002242. ISSN 0368-1769.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1906). "CXI.—A study of the reaction between hydrogen peroxide and potassium persulphate". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 89: 1092–1101. doi:10.1039/CT9068901092. ISSN 0368-1645.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1930). "CCXIII.—The solubility of neodymium sulphate in water and in sulphuric acid solutions at various temperatures. A new hydrate". J. Chem. Soc.: 1633–1642. doi:10.1039/JR9300001633. ISSN 0368-1769.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1929). "CCCIV.—The hydrates of lithium sulphate and their solubility in water between –16° and +103°". J. Chem. Soc.: 2330–2333. doi:10.1039/JR9290002330. ISSN 0368-1769.
- Friend, John Albert Newton (1908). "XXIV.—Valency". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 93: 260–270. doi:10.1039/CT9089300260. ISSN 0368-1645.