Travers, Morris William 1872-1961
English chemist

He was born in London and educated at the universities of London and Nancy, France. He was a demonstrator (1894-98) and later assistant professor (1898-1903) at University College London, before moving to the chair at University College, Bristol. From 1906 to 1911 he did much to establish the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore, of which he became director, and during World War I he was put in charge of Duroglass Ltd at Walthamstow, London. He was later president of the Society of Glass Technology. He worked as a consultant chemical engineer, returning to Bristol from 1927 to 1939. During World War II he was a consultant on explosives to the Ministry of Supply. At University College he helped Sir William Ramsay to determine the properties of argon and helium. They found helium in meteorites while heating the meteorites in search of new gases. In 1898 Travers discovered krypton, a month later neon and a month after that xenon. In 1920 he began work on high-temperature furnaces and fuel technology, and in 1927 he established a research group at Bristol to work on organic gases at high temperatures. He also wrote a biography of Ramsay (1956) and arranged 24 volumes of his papers. Travers was elected FRS in 1904.