A Noble Man

Take a stroll down Arundel Gardens, which was horribly bombed during both World Wars, and you may notice a small blue plaque. This represents the Notting Hill home where Sir William Ramsey lived for 15 years and made his most famous scientific discovery that earned him a Nobel Prize for Physics. He was a scientfic pioneer and was the first scientist to isolate noble gases which meant an entirely new section for the periodic table. Many labelled him ‘The Greatest Chemical Discoverer of his time’.

He was knighted in 1902 and if you have ever been to a birthday party, wedding or celebration with a helium balloon, then you have William Ramsey to thank, as he was the first person to isolate helium.
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However despite his greatness, he lost a lot of prestige and friends with his unfortunate endorsement of the Engineering Trust Ltd in 1905, this company believed they had the technology to extract gold from seawater, large investments were made on the basis of his endorsement, however when this proved to be impossible, this left William Ramsey with a rather deflated reputation