Francis Robert Japp

Who was Francis Robert Japp?

Francis Robert Japp was a British chemist who discovered the Japp-Klingemann reaction in 1887.

He was born in Dundee, Scotland, the son of James Japp, a minister of the Catholic Apostolic Church. He graduated from St Andrews with an M.A. in 1868 and entered the University of Edinburgh as a student of law. He left the university because of health problems and stayed in Germany for two years from 1871 until 1873. After returning to England he decided to study chemistry. He started his studies at the University of Heidelberg with Robert Bunsen, where he received his Ph.D. in 1875.

He joined the laboratory of August Kekulé at the University of Bonn the following year and after returning to Scotland in 1878 worked with Alexander Crum Brown at the University of Edinburgh. In 1881 Japp became assistant professor at the Royal School of Mines and Normal School of Science South Kensington and in 1890 Professor of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen. In 1885 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

He retired in 1918. After the death of his only son in 1920 and an operation the following year, his health deteriorated. He lost his eyesight in his final years, and died in 1928.