He was a professor of physics at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University in Cambridge, England. During a molecular weight determination of nitrogen, he puzzled over the slight (but real, and reproducible) difference between atmospheric nitrogen and that obtained from inorganic compounds. This observation led to studies by Ramsay that triggered the discovery of the admixtured argon.

1. Cambridge University, Cambridge, England
   
   
2. Terling, England