Page 4 - PERIODIC Magazine Issue 7
P. 4
P rofessor
Sir John Rowlinson
Amongst Sir John’s profoundly influential contributions to the
chemical sciences was his discovery of the wide existence of
lower critical solution temperatures, below which two or more
substances will mix completely in all proportions. Sir John
made significant contributions to the theoretical description of
intermolecular forces, such as his temperature-dependent hard
sphere model of repulsive components of intermolecular forces.
Sir John also had a long-standing interest in the history of
physical chemistry and in understanding the development of the
field. This included seminal biographical work on Johannes van
der Waals, including a translation of van der Waals’s doctoral
thesis.
Sir John’s outstanding work was recognised by numerous
awards and accolades. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal
Society in 1970 and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal
Academy of Engineering in 1976. In 1983 he received the
Faraday Lectureship Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry
for ‘exceptional contributions to physical or theoretical
chemistry’. In 2000 he was knighted for services to chemistry,
chemical engineering and to education. Sir John’s many
Professor Sir John Rowlinson (photo courtesy of Exeter College) contributions to the history of science were recognised in 2008,
when he received the ACS Edelstein award for ‘the breadth
Professor Sir John Rowlinson died last and quality of his research publications in the history of physical
year after a long and distinguished chemistry and his contributions over the last three decades to
career. Born in Cheshire in 1926, the development of the history of chemistry at the University of
Oxford.’
Sir John studied chemistry at Trinity
before moving to a lectureship at the
University of Manchester. In 1961
he became Professor of Chemical
Technology at Imperial College
London, and in 1974 he returned
to Oxford as Dr Lee’s Professor of
Chemistry and Fellow of Exeter
College. Sir John served as Dr Lee’s
Professor of Chemistry until his
retirement in 1993. John approaching the summit of the Matterhorn in 1980
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Periodic The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry
