Cooper Harold Langford III (October 14, 1934 – March 11, 2018) was an American-born Canadian chemist. He was born to the philosopher

Cooper Harold Langford Cooper Harold Langford (25 August 1895, Dublin, Logan County, Arkansas – 28 August 1964) was an American analytic philosopher and mathematical logician who co-authored the book ''Symbolic Logic'' (1932) with C. I. Lewis. He is also known for in ...

and his first wife, Susan Coffman, in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 14, 1934. He attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

as an undergraduate, and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

for graduate studies. His work at Northwestern and his postgraduate work at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

resulted in the publication (with

Harry_B._Gray Harry Barkus Gray (born November 14, 1935) is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. Career Gray received his B.S. in chemistry from Western Kentucky University in 1957. He began his work in inorgan ...

) of

Ligand In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule ( functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's ele ...

Substitution Processes (1966). The Langford-Gray classification remains an important tool to describe the mechanics of inorganic chemical reactions. Langford taught at Amherst College in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (although the county seat ...

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Worl ...

Ottawa, Canada Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of ...

Concordia University Concordia University (French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the th ...

Montreal, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, and the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being inst ...

Calgary, Canada Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, making ...

. Committed throughout his life both to undergraduate teaching and research, his interests continued to expand throughout his career. His research in

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 nm), visible light (400– ...

contributed to environmental science (particularly soil decontamination, waste treatment, and small-community water systems). In collaboration with his wife, the economic historian Dr. Martha Whitney Langford (b. 1938- d. 2009), he pursued research into science policy in Canada, as well as the dynamics of scientific, economic, and entrepreneurial innovation. He served as associate vice-rector for research at Concordia University, and as vice-president (Research) at the University of Calgary, as well as many roles in federal and provincial research agencies, and scientific organizations, including the

Arctic Institute of North America The Arctic Institute of North America is a multi-disciplinary research institute and educational organization located in the University of Calgary. It is mandated to study the North American and circumpolar Arctic in the areas of natural scie ...

, THECIS (The Center for Innovation Studies). and the Calgary Science Center (later known as

Telus Spark TELUS Spark Science Centre is a science museum with interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations and educational demonstrations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There are more than 430,000 visitors annually, including over 82,000 students. The sci ...

). He was granted fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada in 1992. Langford was the co-author of two significant introductory chemistry textbooks. The Development of Chemical Principles (1969, reprinted 1995, with Ralph A. Beebe) was designed to guide undergraduate students through the fundamentals of chemistry by following the history of their development. He also co-wrote the first and second editions of Inorganic Chemistry (1990, with

Peter Atkins Peter William Atkins (born 10 August 1940) is an English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. He retired in 2007. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including ''Physical Chemistry'', ''Ino ...

and Duard F. Shriver). Cooper died of pancreatic cancer on March 11, 2018, while seeking treatment at the

Vernon Jubilee Hospital Vernon Jubilee Hospital (VJH) is a hospital located in Vernon, British Columbia, a city in the Okanagan region of Canada. Initial examination for constructing a hospital in Vernon began in 1895, when residents of the city demanded a hospital to b ...

Vernon, British Columbia Vernon is a city in the Okanagan region of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is northeast of Vancouver. Named after Forbes George Vernon, a former MLA of British Columbia who helped establish the Coldstream Ranch in near ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langford, Cooper H. 1934 births 2018 deaths Scientists from Ann Arbor, Michigan Canadian chemists 21st-century American chemists American emigrants to Canada 20th-century American chemists Harvard University alumni Northwestern University alumni Academic staff of Concordia University Academic staff of Carleton University Academic staff of the University of Calgary Amherst College faculty Deaths from cancer in British Columbia Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada 21st-century Canadian chemists