Brian Frederick Gilbert Johnson (born 11 September 1938 in

Northampton, England Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

) is a British scientist and

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor of chemistry at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He was also Master of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 1999 to 2005.

Education

Johnson was educated at

Northampton Grammar School Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is a secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Town and County Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Education in England#Stages of compulsory education, Yea ...

and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

where he was awarded

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

degrees.

Research

During his career, Johnson has conducted extensive research into many different areas of

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, most recently on nano particles. He had a long running research partnership with Jack Lewis, with whom he discovered a number of unusual

metal carbonyl cluster In chemistry, a metal carbonyl cluster is a compound that contains two or more metals linked in part by metal-metal bonds and containing carbon monoxide (CO) as the exclusive or predominant ligand. The area is a subfield of metal carbonyl chemistry ...

Awards

Johnson was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1991. His nomination reads

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Brian F.G. 1938 births Living people People from Northampton Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Masters of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge English chemists Members of Academia Europaea Fellows of the Royal Society Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Members of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry Alumni of the University of Nottingham Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh