David Phillips | |
|---|---|
 David Phillips in 2015, portrait via the Royal Society | |
| Born | 3 December 1939 [1] |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Southampton |
David Phillips, CBE , FRSC , FRS (born 3 December 1939) [1] is a British chemist specialising in photochemistry and lasers, and was president of the Royal Society of Chemistry from 2010 to 2012. [3]
Phillips was born 3 December 1939 in Kendal, lived in South Shields and attended the Grammar School. [3] [1] He studied at the University of Birmingham attaining a BSc and PhD. [1]
Phillips began his career doing postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. [3] [4] He was appointed a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Southampton, rising to the status of Reader then becoming Wolfson Professor of Natural Philosophy, at the Royal Institution. In 1981, Phillips became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. [5] In 1989 he moved to Imperial College, London as professor of physical chemistry and held a number of senior posts there. [3]
In 1987 he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on television. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999 [3] [1] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to chemistry. [6] In May 2011 he was the guest on Desert Island Discs [4] and in June 2012 was Michael Berkeley's guest on Private Passions.[ citation needed ]
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1962 James Bond film Dr No , Phillips stated that the character of Dr No, with his personal nuclear reactor, helped to create a "remorselessly grim" reputation for atomic energy. [7] and that the popularity of the movie created an enduringly negative image of nuclear power – as something dangerous that could be wielded by megalomaniacs with aspirations to world domination. Phillips claims that when nuclear power is discussed "it is not at all surprising that the public at home and abroad are sceptical" and concludes that "The Royal Society of Chemistry asserts that nuclear power has to be part of the future national energy mix, in which it plays a major role. Fossil fuels have to be eradicated for people to live in a healthy environment. Let's say yes to nuclear and no to Dr No's nonsense."
Phillips received the Porter Medal in 2010 [8] and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015. [9]
Colin Trevor Pillinger, was an English planetary scientist. He was a founding member of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at Open University in Milton Keynes, he was also the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and worked on a group of Martian meteorites.
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society, and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new Royal Charter and the dual role of learned society and professional body. At its inception, the Society had a combined membership of 34,000 in the UK and a further 8,000 abroad.
George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham, was a British chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967.
Charles Wayne Rees CBE FRS FRSC was a British organic chemist.
Steven Victor Ley is Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, and is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2000–2002) and was made a CBE in January 2002, in the process. In 2011, he was included by The Times in the list of the "100 most important people in British science".
Sir Martyn Poliakoff is a British chemist, working on fundamental chemistry, and on developing environmentally acceptable processes and materials. The core themes of his work are supercritical fluids, infrared spectroscopy and lasers. He is a research professor in chemistry at the University of Nottingham. As well as carrying out research at the University of Nottingham, he is a lecturer, teaching a number of modules including green chemistry.
Bedford High School is a coeducational secondary school in the Bedford area of Leigh, Greater Manchester, England.
James Barber was a British senior research investigator and emeritus Ernst Chain professor of biochemistry at Imperial College London, Visiting Professor at the Polytechnic University of Turin and Visiting Canon Professor to Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.
Sir Simon Fraser Campbell is a British chemist.
Graham John Hutchings CBE FRS FIChemE FRSC FLSW is a British chemist, Professor for Research at Cardiff University.
Matthew Jonathan Rosseinsky is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Liverpool. He was awarded the Hughes Medal in 2011 "for his influential discoveries in the synthetic chemistry of solid state electronic materials and novel microporous structures."
Polly Louise Arnold is a British chemist who is director of the chemical sciences division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. She previously held the Crum Brown chair in the School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh from 2007 to 2019 and an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) career fellowship.
The Livingstone Medal is awarded by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in recognition of outstanding service of a humanitarian nature with a clear geographical dimension. This was awarded first in 1901.
James Robert DurrantFRSC FLSW is a British photochemist. He is a professor of photochemistry at Imperial College London and Sêr Cymru Solar Professor at Swansea University. He serves as director of the centre for plastic electronics (CPE).
Charlotte Williams holds the Professorship of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the synthesis of novel catalysts with an expertise in organometallic chemistry and polymer materials chemistry.
The Longstaff Prize is given to a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry who has done the most to advance the science of chemistry. First awarded in 1881, it was originally conferred by the Chemical Society and known as the Longstaff Medal.
The Interdisciplinary Prizes of the Royal Society of Chemistry recognize work at the interface between chemistry and other disciplines. Up to three prizes are awarded annually: Each winner receives £5000 and a medal, and completes a UK lecture tour.
The Department of Materials is responsible for the teaching and research in materials science and engineering at Imperial College London, occupying the Royal School of Mines and Bessemer buildings on the South Kensington campus. It can trace its origins back to the metallurgy department of the Government School of Mines and Science applied to the Arts, founded in 1851.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
