 He earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under Karl von Auwers at Heidelberg University in 1895.In 1895 he joined Owens College, Manchester (this became part of the University of Manchester in 1904), starting as an assistant to W. H. Perkin Jr., becoming a lecturer in 1896 and senior lecturer in 1908.In that year he was elected FRS and was awarded a Sorby Fellowship by the Royal Society to study in Sheffield.