Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester

Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester

The School of Chemistry from Brunswick Park
Director	David Procter
Location	Manchester , United Kingdom
Affiliations	Faculty of Science and Engineering University of Manchester
Website	www.chemistry.manchester.ac.uk

The Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester is one of the largest departments of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, with over 600 undergraduate and more than 200 postgraduate research students.

The department has comprehensive academic coverage across the chemical sciences and in all the core sub-disciplines of chemistry, with over 120 postdoctoral researchers.

Current Management Board

• Head of Department: David Procter
• Head of Education: Alan Brisdon
• Undergraduate Program Director: Andrew Regan
• Subject Lead (Inorganic): David Collison
• Subject Lead (Organic): Andrew Regan
• Subject Lead (Physical): Nick Lockyer
• Head of Teaching and Scholarship: Jenny Slaughter
• PASS Management Staff: Nicholas Weise
• Undergraduate Admissions Tutor: Sam Hay
• International Studies: Lu Shin Wong

Notable faculty

As of 2017 ^[update] , the department employs 34 full-time Professors and 11 Emeritus Professors, ^[1] including:

• David Procter, Head of Department, and Professor of Organic Chemistry.
• Richard Winpenny, Ex-Head of School, and Professor of Inorganic Chemistry.
• David Leigh, ^{[2] [3]} FRS, Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry
• Gareth A. Morris, ^[4] FRS, Professor of Physical Chemistry

• 
  Gareth A. Morris is a Professor of Physical Chemistry in the School and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)

Emeritus

John Joule is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Chemistry

The School is also home to a number of Emeritus Professors, pursuing their research interests after their formal retirement, ^[1] including:

• John Joule, ^[5] Emeritus Professor

History of chemistry in Manchester

The Schunck Building, University of Manchester

Four of the former chemical laboratories of the Victoria University of Manchester are shown here: Schunck, Perkin and Dalton (1904; left) and Roscoe (1873, centre); the taller building is the John Owens Building, also 1873

Manchester has a long and distinguished history of Chemistry. John Dalton founded modern Chemistry in 1803 with his atomic theory. William Henry (1774 – 1836) was a Manchester chemist who developed what is known today as Henry's Law. James Joule pioneered the science of thermodynamics in the 1840s while working in Manchester. In the basement of the Royal Manchester Institution, a laboratory was installed by Lyon Playfair, who worked there briefly as Professor of Chemistry after he left Thomson's of Clitheroe. ^[6] He was succeeded by Frederick Crace Calvert, who made phenol, which was used by Joseph Lister as an antiseptic. ^[7] Carl Schorlemmer, ^[8] was appointed the first UK Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1874.

The teaching of chemistry in Owens College began in 1851 in a house in St John Street and was later transferred to the main college building in Quay Street. When the college moved again to the present university site in 1873, the chemical laboratory was designed by Henry Roscoe. To this was added in 1895 the Schorlemmer laboratory for organic chemistry, and in 1904, three more laboratories were added; these were the Dalton and Perkin laboratories and the Schunck laboratory , which was brought from Kersal and rebuilt. The Morley laboratories (1909) provided further accommodation for organic chemistry. ^[9] In October 1909, Rona Robinson and two other women were arrested for dressing in full academic regalia and interrupting a speech by the chancellor of the university at the celebration of the opening of the new chemical laboratories. They were demanding that the chancellor speak out against the force-feeding of imprisoned suffragette alumni of Manchester who were on hunger strike. The police were particularly rough with the women that day and the chancellor was sufficiently moved by the women's protest to pressure the university into not pressing charges, thus preventing Rona from going to prison again.

After the 2nd World War three more laboratories were built further down Burlington Street; these were the Dixon Laboratory (1946), the Robinson Laboratory (1950), and the Lapworth Laboratory (1950); ^[10] all three were vacated in the 1960s when the present building in Brunswick Street was available. The architect for the present chemistry building was H. S. Fairhurst & Son. ^[11]

Professors

See also: Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry

Professors at Owens College and the Victoria University of Manchester: ^[12]

• Edward Frankland, 1851–57
• Henry E. Roscoe, 1857–86 ^[13]
• Carl Schorlemmer, 1874–92 (organic chemistry)
• Harold B. Dixon, 1887–1922
• William H. Perkin, 1892–1912 (organic chemistry) ^[14]
• Arthur Lapworth, 1913–35 (organic chemistry) ^[15]
• Robert Robinson, 1923–28 (organic chemistry)
• Ian Heilbron, 1933–38 (organic chemistry)
• Michael Polanyi, 1933–48 (physical chemistry)
• Alexander R. Todd, 1938–44 (organic chemistry)
• Edmund Hirst, 1945–47 (organic chemistry) ^{[16] [ failed verification ]}
• Ewart Jones, 1947–54 (organic chemistry)
• Meredith G. Evans, 1948–52 ^[17]

Alumni

Melvin Calvin completed his PhD in the School of Chemistry and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961

Other distinguished alumni and former staff ^[18] from the school of Chemistry include:

• Melvin Calvin, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961 ^[19]
• Michael Polanyi, Professor of Chemistry ^[20]
• Arthur Harden, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 ^[21]
• Norman Haworth, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1937 ^[22]
• George de Hevesy, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1943 ^[23]
• James Lovelock FRS, undergraduate in Chemistry, graduating in 1941
• John Charles Polanyi, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986
• Robert Robinson, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1947 ^[24]
• Ernest Rutherford, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 ^[25]
• Michael Smith, completed a PhD in Manchester, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993
• Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1957 ^[26]

See also Notable chemists (and biologists) at the University of Manchester

References

1. "Staff in the School of Chemistry". 2015. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013.
2. Kay, E. R.; Leigh, D. A.; Zerbetto, F. (2007). "Synthetic Molecular Motors and Mechanical Machines". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 46 (1–2): 72–191. doi:10.1002/anie.200504313. PMID   17133632.
3. "LEIGH, Prof. David Alan" . Who's Who . Vol. 2015 (online Oxford University Press  ed.). A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. "MORRIS, Prof. Gareth Alun" . Who's Who . Vol. 2015 (online Oxford University Press  ed.). A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. Heterocyclic Chemistry ISBN   1405133007
6. W. P. Doyle, Lyon Playfair (1818–1898), University of Edinburgh School of Chemistry, archived from the original on 5 March 2012, retrieved 16 May 2012
7. Crellin, J. K. (2004). "Calvert, Frederick Crace- (1819–1873)" ((Subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4419 . Retrieved 16 May 2012.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
8. Smith, E. F. (1895). "The Rise and Development of Organic Chemistry, by CARL SCHORLEMMER, LL. D., F. R. S., revised and edited by ARTHUR SMITHELLS, B. Sc., Prof. Chemistry in Yorkshire College, Leeds, Victoria Univ. Macmillan & Co., New York. Pp. 280. Price $1.60". Science. 1 (6): 163–4. doi:10.1126/science.1.6.163. PMID   17789537.
9. Campbell (1939), pp. 39–40
10. Portrait (1951), app. VII
11. Pevsner, Nikolaus (1969) Lancashire. The Buildings of England. 1: The Urban South. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books; p. 311
12. Charlton, H. B. (1951) Portrait of a University. Manchester University Press; p. 177
13. Charlton, H. B. (1851). Portrait of a university, 1851–1951: To commemorate the centenary of Manchester University. the University of Manchester, University press. pp. 53–4.
14. "Carl Voegtlin—Obituary and Bibliography" . JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 25 (4): III–XV. 1 October 1960. doi:10.1093/jnci/25.4.III. ISSN   0027-8874.
15. Robinson, Robert (January 1997). "Arthur Lapworth, 1872–1941" . Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 5 (15): 554–572. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1947.0018.
16. Holden, C. (2 December 1977). "Humanists on the Move" (PDF). Science. 198 (4320). The Royal Society of Edinburgh: 451. doi:10.1126/science.198.4320.902. ISBN   0-902-198-84-X. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   17787543. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013.
17. Bawn, C. E. H.; Taylor, Hugh; Tomlinson, Muriel; Hartley, Harold (1 January 1956). "Obituary notices: Meredith Gwynne Evans, 1904–1952; James William McBain, 1882–1953; Sydney Glenn Preston Plant, 1896–1955; Humphrey Rivaz Raikes, 1891–1955; Ralph William Ewart Stickings, 1895–1955" . Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed): 1916–1924. doi:10.1039/JR9560001916. ISSN   0368-1769.
18. "Our Nobel Prize winners". University of Manchester. 2015. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015.
19. Seaborg, G. T.; Benson, A. A. (2008). "Melvin Calvin. 8 April 1911 -- 8 January 1997". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 54: 59–70. doi: 10.1098/rsbm.2007.0050 .
20. Wigner, E. P.; Hodgkin, R. A. (1977). "Michael Polanyi. 12 March 1891 -- 22 February 1976". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 23: 413–448. doi: 10.1098/rsbm.1977.0016 .
21. Hopkins, F. G.; Martin, C. J. (1942). "Arthur Harden. 1865–1940". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society . 4 (11): 2. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1942.0001. S2CID   178418151.
22. Hirst, E. L. (1951). "Walter Norman Haworth. 1883–1950". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society . 7 (20): 372–404. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1951.0008. JSTOR   769026. S2CID   40701042.
23. Cockcroft, J. D. (1967). "George de Hevesy 1885–1966". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 13: 125–126. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1967.0007.
24. Todd, L.; Cornforth, J. W. (1976). "Robert Robinson. 13 September 1886 -- 8 February 1975". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 22: 414–527. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1976.0018. JSTOR   769748. S2CID   73166960.
25. Eve, A. S.; Chadwick, J. (1938). "Lord Rutherford 1871–1937". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society . 2 (6): 394. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1938.0025.
26. Brown, D. M.; Kornberg, H. (2000). "Alexander Robertus Todd, O.M., Baron Todd of Trumpington. 2 October 1907 -- 10 January 1997: Elected F.R.S. 1942". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 46: 515. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1999.0099. S2CID   73076704.

• Campbell, Colin (1939) "The chemistry department", in: The Journal of the University of Manchester; vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 39–45.
• Field, Clive & Pickstone, John, eds. (1988; 1992) A Centre of Intelligence: the development of science, technology and medicine in Manchester and its university; rev. ed. Manchester: the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (in conjunction with an exhibition at the library in 1988) ISBN 0863731074