John Joseph Jolly Kyle

John Joseph Jolly Kyle FRSA (2 February 1838 – 23 February 1922) was a pioneering Argentine chemist. Born and educated in Scotland, he emigrated to Argentina in 1862, and on the outbreak of the Paraguayan War served as a pharmacist in the Argentine Army medical corps. He became an Argentine citizen in 1873. At the time Kyle was active specialisation was not an option in Latin American chemistry and it was necessary for a chemist to be a sort of polymath or jack-of-all-trades. Kyle was appointed professor of chemistry at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires in 1871, and chief chemist to the Casa de Moneda de la República Argentina (the Argentine Mint) in 1881. He was appointed professor of organic chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires (1889); Chemist to the Inspectorate-General of Sanitary Works (1890); professor of industrial chemistry at the Colegio Nacional (1892); and professor of inorganic chemistry at Buenos Aires University (1896). He was director of the first chemistry doctoral thesis in Argentina (1901).

The Dr. Juan J. J. Kyle Award, awarded quinquennially by the Argentine Chemical Association for the best contribution to any branch of chemistry, and its most prestigious prize, is named in his honour.