Royal College of Chemistry in the context of "John Williams Reynolds"

August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 1818 – 5 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the groundwork for his student Charles Mansfield's practical methods for extracting benzene and toluene and converting them into nitro compounds and amines. Hofmann's discoveries include formaldehyde, hydrazobenzene, the isonitriles, and allyl alcohol. He prepared three ethylamines and tetraethylammonium compounds and established their structural relationship to ammonia.

After studying under Justus von Liebig at the University of Giessen, Hofmann became the first director of the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, in 1845. In 1865 he returned to Germany to accept a position at the University of Berlin as a teacher and researcher. After his return he co-founded the German Chemical Society (Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft) (1867).In both London and Berlin, Hofmann recreated the style of laboratory instruction established by Liebig at Giessen, fostering a school of chemistry focused on experimental organic chemistry and its industrial applications.

William Johnson Sollas (30 May 1849 – 20 October 1936) was a British geologist and anthropologist. After studying at the City of London School, the Royal College of Chemistry and the Royal School of Mines he matriculated to St. John's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded First Class Honours in geology. After some time spent as a University Extension lecturer he became lecturer in Geology and Zoology at University College, Bristol in 1879, where he stayed until he was offered the post of Professor of Geology at Trinity College Dublin. In 1897 he was offered the post of Professor of Geology at the University of Oxford, which he accepted.

Considered "one of the last true geological polymaths", Sollas worked in a number of areas including the study of sponges, brachiopods and petrological research, and during his lifetime published 180 papers and wrote three books. He also invented the serial sectioning device for the study of fossils. His biggest contribution at Oxford was in expanding the University geology department, hiring new Demonstrators and Lecturers and expanding the facilities available to students. Described as "eccentric" in his final years, he left much of the running of the Department to J.A. Douglas while he concentrated on research, finally dying in office on 20 October 1936.