Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (19 June 1897 – 9 October 1967) was a British
physical chemist and expert in
chemical kinetics
Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions. It is to be contrasted with chemical thermodynamics, which deals with the direction in ...
. His work in reaction mechanisms earned the 1956
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
in
chemistry.
Education
Born in London, his parents were Norman Macmillan Hinshelwood, a chartered accountant, and Ethel Frances née Smith. He was educated first in Canada, returning in 1905 on the death of his father to a small flat in
Chelsea where he lived for the rest of his life. He then studied at
Westminster City School and
Balliol College, Oxford.
Career
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
, Hinshelwood was a
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...
in an
explosives factory. He was a
tutor at
Trinity College, Oxford, from 1921 to 1937 and was
Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry at the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...
from 1937. He served on several advisory councils on scientific matters to the
British Government.
His early studies of molecular
kinetics
Kinetics ( grc, κίνησις, , kinesis, ''movement'' or ''to move'') may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Kinetics (physics), the study of motion and its causes
** Rigid body kinetics, the study of the motion of rigid bodies
* Chemical k ...
led to the publication of ''Thermodynamics for Students of Chemistry'' and ''The Kinetics of Chemical Change'' in 1926. With
Harold Warris Thompson
Sir Harold Warris Thompson, CBE, FRS (15 February 1908 – 31 December 1983) was an English physical chemist and spectroscopist, who also served as chairman of the Football Association.
Early life and education
Harold Thompson was born in ...
he studied the explosive reaction of
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
and
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as we ...
and described the phenomenon of
chain reaction
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.
Chain reactions are one way that sy ...
. His subsequent work on chemical changes in the bacterial cell proved to be of great importance in later research work on
antibiotics and therapeutic agents, and his book, ''The Chemical Kinetics of the Bacterial Cell'' was published in 1946, followed by ''Growth, Function and Regulation in Bacterial Cells'' in 1966. In 1951 he published ''The Structure of Physical Chemistry''. It was republished as an Oxford Classic Texts in the Physical Sciences by Oxford University Press in 2005.
The
Langmuir-Hinshelwood process in heterogeneous catalysis, in which the adsorption of the reactants on the surface is the rate-limiting step, is named after him. He was a senior research fellow at
Imperial College London from 1964 to 1967.
Awards and honours
In addition to being named the second at Oxford, Hinshelwood was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1929,
serving as president from 1955 to 1960. He was
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...
ed in 1948 and appointed to the
Order of Merit in 1960. With
Nikolay Semenov
Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov (or Semënov), (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Семёнов; – 25 September 1986) (often referred to in English as Semenoff, Semenov, Semionov, or Semyonova) was a Soviet physicist and chem ...
of the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
, Hinshelwood was jointly awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
in 1956 for his researches into the mechanism of chemical reactions. He was also an elected member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...
, the United States
National Academy of Sciences, and the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communi ...
.
Hinshelwood was president of the
Chemical Society, the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
,
the
Classical Association, and the
Faraday Society, and received numerous awards and honorary degrees.
Personal life
Hinshelwood never married. He was fluent in seven classical and modern languages and his main hobbies were painting, collecting Chinese pottery, and foreign literature. As an artist, Hinshelwood painted scenes in Oxford, as well as portraits of Oxford University people including
Harold Hartley,
his doctoral supervisor, and
Herbert Blakiston, the President of Trinity College. The portrait of Hartley is now owned by the Royal Society,
and that of Blakiston is owned by Trinity College, as are a number of Hinshelwood's other paintings.
He died, at home, on 9 October 1967. In 1968 his Nobel Prize medal was sold by his estate to a collector, who then sold it in 1976 for $15,000. In 2017 his Nobel Prize medal was sold at auction for $128,000.
See also
*
Balliol-Trinity Laboratories
References
External links
* including the Nobel Lecture on December 11, 1956 ''Chemical Kinetics in the Past Few Decades''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinshelwood, Cyril
1897 births
1967 deaths
Scientists from London
English physical chemists
Knights Bachelor
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
British Nobel laureates
Fellows of the Royal Society
Presidents of the Royal Society
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford
Members of the Order of Merit
Recipients of the Copley Medal
People educated at Westminster City School
Royal Medal winners
Faraday Lecturers
Presidents of the British Science Association
Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
English Nobel laureates
Dr Lee's Professors of Chemistry
Academics of Imperial College London
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Recipients of the Dalton Medal
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Presidents of the Classical Association