George Wilson (chemist)

George Wilson PRSSA FRSE (21 February 1818 – 22 November 1859) was a 19th-century Scottish chemist and author.

He was born in Edinburgh at 55 Potterow, the son of Archibald Wilson, a bookbinder, and his wife, Janet Aitken.

He was first educated at a small private school at 10 George Street[2] in Edinburgh by George Knight,[3] then from 1828 at the Royal High School and then studied medicine at Edinburgh University from 1832, studying under Thomas Charles Hope and Robert Christison.

He recruited expatriate Scots from around the world to send back specimens for the national collection, and gave many public lectures.

He died at his home, Elm Cottage on Whitehouse Loan in south Edinburgh[6] on 22 November 1859, of pleuropneumonia, which developed following a cold.