{{Short description|British metallurgist and materials scientist (1899–1968)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Use British English|date=April 2018}} {{Infobox scientist |name = William Hume-Rothery |image = |image_size = 150px |caption = William Hume-Rothery |birth_date = {{birth date text|15 May 1899}} |birth_place = Worcester Park, Surrey, UK |death_date = {{death-date and age|27 September 1968|15 May 1899}} |death_place = Oxford, UK |residence = |citizenship = |ethnicity = |field = Metallurgy |work_institutions = University of Oxford |alma_mater = |education = University of Oxford<br>Royal School of Mines |doctoral_advisor = Harold Carpenter |doctoral_students = Geoffrey Raynor |known_for = Hume-Rothery rules |influences = |influenced = |prizes = {{no wrap|Francis C. Clamer Medal (1947)}}<br>{{no wrap|Fellow of the Royal Society (1937)}}<br>Beilby Medal and Prize (1934) |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''William Hume-Rothery''' (15 May 1899 – 27 September 1968) was an English metallurgist and materials scientist who studied the constitution of alloys.<ref>Hume-Rothery Bio, The Golden Years, Jack Christian, Department of Materials at Oxford University</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/infoandnews/history/goldenyears.html |title=Golden Years at Oxford |access-date=23 September 2009 |archive-date=21 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421021251/http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk/infoandnews/history/goldenyears.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>'' The Structure of Metals and Alloys'' (first published in 1936)</ref>
== Early life and education == Hume-Rothery was born the son of lawyer Joseph Hume-Rothery in Worcester Park, Surrey. His grandfather, William Rothery, was a clergyman.<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Raynor | first1 = G. V. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1969.0006 | title = William Hume-Rothery 1899-1968 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 15 | pages = 109–126 | year = 1969 | s2cid = 72451114 | doi-access = free }}</ref> His grandmother, Mary Hume-Rothery, a leading campaigner against vaccination, was the daughter of Joseph Hume, a Scottish doctor and Radical Member of parliament.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Rothery, Mary Catherine Hume- (1824–1885), campaigner for medical reform and author|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49483|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49483|access-date=2020-05-28}}</ref> William spent his youth in Cheltenham and was educated at Cheltenham College. In 1917 he was made totally deaf by a virus infection. Nevertheless, he entered Magdalen College, Oxford, and obtained a first class Honours degree in chemistry. He also attended the Royal School of Mines and was awarded a PhD.<ref name="frs"/>
==Career== During World War II, he supervised numerous government contracts for work on aluminium and magnesium alloys.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
After the war he returned to Oxford "''to carry on research in intermetallic compounds and problems on the borderland of metallography and chemistry''" and remained there for the rest of his working life. In 1938 he was appointed lecturer in metallurgical chemistry. In his research, he concluded that the microstructure of an alloy depends on the sizes of the component atoms, as well as the valency electron concentration, and electrochemical differences. This led to the definition of the Hume-Rothery rules.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
In the 1950s he founded the Department of Metallurgy (which is now the Department of Materials) at the University of Oxford, and was a fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} He was also involved in founding the ''Journal of the Less-Common Metals'', which developed out of an international symposium on metals and alloys above 1200 °C that he organised at Oxford University on 17–18 September 1958. The papers presented at the symposium "The study of metals and alloys above 1200°C" were published as Volume 1 of the ''Journal of the Less-Common Metals''.<ref name="Raub">{{cite journal |last1=Raub |first1=E. |title=A note on the origins of volume 1 of the Journal of the less-common metals |journal=Journal of the Less Common Metals |date=July 1984 |volume=100 |pages=iv–vi |doi=10.1016/0022-5088(84)90048-1}}</ref>
He was a member of the Oxford Philatelic Society.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}
== Selected publications == * ''Electrons, atoms, metals, and alloys'' (1948, 1955, 1963)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hume-Rothery |first=William |url=https://www.sudoc.abes.fr/cbs/xslt/DB=2.1//SRCH?IKT=12&TRM=004775139&COOKIE=U10178,Klecteurweb,D2.1,E450b4c7f-82,I250,B341720009+,SY,QDEF,A%5C9008+1,,J,H2-26,,29,,34,,39,,44,,49-50,,53-78,,80-87,NLECTEUR+PSI,R10.34.103.180,FN |title=Electrons, atoms, metals and alloys |date=1963 |publisher=Dover |location=New York, Etats-Unis d'Amérique |language=English}}</ref> ** Polish edition: ''Elektrony, atomy, metale i stopy'' (translated by Romuald Romicki, 1955)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elektrony, atomy, metale i stopy|url=https://katalogi.bn.org.pl/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991046300489705066&context=L&vid=48OMNIS_NLOP:48OMNIS_NLOP&lang=pl&search_scope=NLOP_IZ_NZ&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&isFrbr=true&tab=LibraryCatalog&query=any,contains,hume-rothery&offset=0 |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=katalogi.bn.org.pl |language=en}}</ref> ** French edition: ''Électrons, atomes, métaux et alliages'' (translated by G. Hilly, 1959)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hume-Rothery |first=William |url=https://www.sudoc.abes.fr/cbs/xslt/DB=2.1//SRCH?IKT=12&TRM=004775112&COOKIE=U10178,Klecteurweb,D2.1,Ef4cde9fd-81,I250,B341720009+,SY,QDEF,A%5C9008+1,,J,H2-26,,29,,34,,39,,44,,49-50,,53-78,,80-87,NLECTEUR+PSI,R10.34.103.180,FN |title=Électrons, atomes, métaux et alliages |last2=Hilly |first2=Guy |date=1959 |publisher=Dunod |location=Paris, France}}</ref> * ''Elements of structural metallurgy'' (1961)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hume-Rothery |first=William |url=https://www.sudoc.abes.fr/cbs/xslt/DB=2.1//SRCH?IKT=12&TRM=006136362&COOKIE=U10178,Klecteurweb,D2.1,E0ac2afc5-82,I250,B341720009+,SY,QDEF,A%5C9008+1,,J,H2-26,,29,,34,,39,,44,,49-50,,53-78,,80-87,NLECTEUR+PSI,R10.34.103.180,FN |title=Elements of structural metallurgy |date=1961 |publisher=Institute of metals, 1961 |location=London, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord |language=English}}</ref> ** Russian edition: ''Введение в физическое металловедение'' (translated by V.M. Glazov and S.M. Gorin, 1965)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Введение в физическое металловедение., Страница 1 из 202 :: БукТориум 2.0 |url=https://t-library.net/read/1993 |access-date=2024-01-15 |website=t-library.net}}</ref>
==William Hume-Rothery Award== The '''William Hume-Rothery Award''' has since 1974 been awarded annually by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.{{cn|date=January 2024}}
==Honours and awards== * Hume-Rothery was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May, 1937<ref name="frs"/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27hume-rothery%27%29| title = Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher = Royal Society| access-date = 21 November 2010}}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> * Awarded the Francis J. Clamer Medal in 1949.
==Personal life and retirement== He married Elizabeth Fea in 1931; they had a daughter Jennifer in 1934. He retired in 1966 and died in 1968.{{cn|date=January 2024}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hume-Rothery, William}} Category:1899 births Category:1968 deaths Category:Scientists from Cheltenham Category:British metallurgists Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Isaac Wolfson Professors of Metallurgy Category:Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Category:British fellows of the Royal Society Category:English deaf people Category:British scientists with disabilities