Herbert Edmeston Watson (17 May 1886 - 24 September 1980) was Ramsay Memorial Professor of Chemical Engineering at University College London and the inventor of the low voltage neon glow lamp.
He completed a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at University College London in 1908 under the tutorship of Sir William Ramsay.
During 1910 he was at the University of Geneva under Philippe-Auguste Guye, completing his studies at the Trinity College, Cambridge under Joseph John Thomson in 1911.
[15] He resigned from the role in 1933, after the new director of the Institute, Sir C. V. Raman, started to redirect funds from the chemistry department to physics.
[16] In 1934 he became the third Ramsay professor of chemical engineering at University College London after the death of the previous incumbent W. E. Gibbs, and held the position until his retirement in 1951.