Topic: Thomas Anderson

Thomas Anderson (2 July 1819 – 2 November 1874) was a Scottish chemist who is best remembered for discovering pyridine.

Born in Edinburgh, Anderson was educated at Leith High School and the Edinburgh Academy before studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, from where he graduated in 1841. Having developed an interest in chemistry at university, he spent several years studying in Europe, including spells under Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Justus von Liebig, before returning to Edinburgh.

After working at the University of Edinburgh and the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Anderson succeeded Thomas Thomson as regius professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow in 1852. The following year his work on alkaloids led him to discover the correct structure for codeine. Later he discovered pyridine and related compounds such as picoline through studies on the distillation of bone-oil and other animal matter.