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.