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Sir Robert John Kane ( 1809 – 1890 ) was an Irish Chemist . His father, John Kean, was involved in the Irish Rebellion Of 1798 and fled for a time to France where he studied chemistry. Back in Dublin Kean (now Kane) founded the Kane Company and manufactured Sulphuric Acid . The young Kane studied chemistry at his father's factory and published his first paper, "Observations on the existence of chlorine in the native peroxide of manganese", in 1828 . He studied Medicine at Trinity College, Dublin and Pharmacy in Paris . On the strength of his book ''Elements of Practical Pharmacy'' he was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1832. He studied Acid s, showed that Hydrogen was Electropositive , and proposed the existence of the Ethyl Radical . In 1836 he travelled to Giessen in Germany to study Organic Chemistry with Justus Von Liebig . He published a three-volume ''Elements of Chemistry'' in 1841 – 1844 , and a detailed report on the ''Industrial Resources of Ireland''. Sir Robert Peel appointed him director of the Museum of Irish Industry in Dublin in 1845 and President of Queen's College, Cork . He was knighted in 1846 . He became a political adviser on scientific and industrial matters, and served on several commissions related to the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849) , all more or less ineffective. His political and administrative work meant that his contribution to chemistry ceased after about 1844. EXTERNAL LINKS
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