Frederick Sydney Dainton, Baron Dainton, Kt, FRS,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(11 November 1914 – 5 December 1997) was a British academic chemist and university administrator. A graduate of Oxford and Cambridge, he was successively Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Leeds, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry at Oxford and

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the University of Sheffield.

Early life and education

Dainton was born in Sheffield on 11 November 1914, the son of George Whalley Dainton (born 1857), a Clerk of Works to a building contractor, and his second wife Mary Jane Bottrill, as the youngest of nine children. He obtained a scholarship to the Central Secondary School in Sheffield, but it was in the public library that he became enthused of chemistry by reading the books of Sidgwick and Hinshelwood. Dainton won an

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St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

with a supplementary grant and loan from the City of Sheffield, which enabled him to study chemistry, gaining a first class degree in 1937. He then moved to

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

where he received his

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in 1940 working on photochemistry under Ronald Norrish, FRS.

Academic career

Being

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Dainton was unfit for military service and stayed to teach at Cambridge during the Second World War. In 1945 he became a Fellow of

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

. In polymer chemistry he explained the thermodynamics of the ceiling temperature of

depolymerizable polymers Depolymerizable polymers or Low-Ceiling Temperature Polymers refer to polymeric materials that can undergo depolymerization to revert the materials to their monomers at relatively low temperatures, such as room temperature. For example, the ceili ...

in 1948. In 1950 Dainton was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Leeds, specialising in radiation chemistry; work which resulted in his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1965 Dainton left Leeds to become Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. During this period he chaired a Government enquiry into the decline in university entrants in science and technology, published in 1968 as ''The Swing away from Science'' and generally known as the ''Dainton Report''. In 1970 Dainton was appointed Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, moving on in 1973 to become Chairman of the University Grants Committee where he remained until 1985. In 1970 he also became the second chairman of the Council for Scientific Policy. From 1978 until his death Dainton was

of the University of Sheffield, the first Yorkshireman to hold the post.

Honours

Dainton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1957 and in 1996 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(FRSE). In 1972, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1991. Dainton was awarded the Davy Medal in 1969 and the Faraday Medal in 1974. He was awarded the inaugural President's Medal of the Institute of Physics in 1998. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by the University of Bath in 1970. Dainton was

knighted 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 Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1971 and received a life peerage as Baron Dainton, of Hallam Moors in the County of South Yorkshire on 14 February 1986.

Marriage and children

Whilst at Cambridge Dainton met (and in 1942 married) a zoology research student, Barbara Hazlitt Wright (died 12 April 2009). They were married for 55 years and had a son and two daughters.

Death

Lord Dainton died in Oxford on 5 December 1997 at the age of 83.

Selected publications

*''Science: Salvation or Damnation'' (1971) *''Doubts and Certainties: A Personal Memoir of the 20th Century'' (2000)

References