Clan Rutherford People
Daniel Rutherford
Daniel Rutherford (3 November 1749 – 15 December 1819)
Daniel Rutherford was a physician, chemist and botanist, most famous for his discovery of Nitrogen in 1772.
Rutherford was born in Edinburgh to Professor John Rutherford (1695–1779) and Anne MacKay. He was educated at Mundell’s School, and later the University of Edinburgh. It was while studying beneath Joseph Black (the founder of carbon dioxide), that Rutherford first isolated nitrogen, or as he called it at the time “noxious air”.
Daniel’s sister, Anne Rutherford, was the mother of Sir Walter Scott.