Roscoe studied with Bunsen in Heidelberg, taking his English gas-burner; they collaborated for 10 years (usually during long vacations), and stayed friends for life. Kirchhoff and Kekulé also taught him. Meyer and Baeyer were fellow-students and friends, Pasteur and Ross correspondents. Helmholtz was his greatest friend; Roscoe took him to visit the aged Faraday and the sadly decrepit Joule. Roscoe started a lecture-series for unemployed Manchester cotton-workers, Huxley (a close friend) and Tyndall also contributing. Potter was his niece; he took her (and her fungi drawings) to Kew to meet the director.