Tilden, William Augustus (1842–1926)

English chemist, professor of chemistry at the Royal College of Science, London, 1894–1909. Tilden's main work was on terpenes. In 1884, he discovered that they decomposed to form isoprene; because isoprene molecules could be polymerized (i.e. joined together in a long chain), this was a major step in the development of synthetic rubber.

Tilden was born in London, taught chemistry at Clifton College 1873–80, and was appointed professor of chemistry at Birmingham in 1880. He was knighted in1909.