Robert Angus Smith

He worked as a personal tutor and, accompanying a family to Gießen in 1839, he stayed on in Germany to study chemistry supervised by Justus von Liebig, earning a PhD in 1841.

Playfair left for greener pastures in 1845 and Smith worked at making a living as an independent analytical chemist.

After some initial alarming experiences, Smith refused to take on expert witness work which was a staple of consulting scientists of the day and which he saw as corrupt.

[5] He is buried in the graveyard of St Paul's Church on Kersal Moor, Salford[6] In 1872 Smith published the book Air and Rain: The Beginnings of a Chemical Climatology, which presents his studies of the chemistry of atmospheric precipitation.

[5] These studies include the discovery, in 1852, of acid rain in northern British cities, a consequence of the burning of coal rich in sulfur.