Ian William Murison Smith (15 June 1937 – 8 November 2016)
[ ][ ] was a chemist who served as a
research fellow
A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...
and
lecturer
Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
in the
Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
The Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry is the University of Cambridge's chemistry department. It was formed from a merger in the early 1980s of two separate departments that had moved into the Lensfield Road building decades earlier: the Depart ...
from 1963 to 1985 and
Professor of Chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, ...
at the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
from 1985 to 2002.
Education
Smith was educated at Giggleswick School
Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England.
Early school
In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...
[ then in the ]West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
and 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 ...
where he studied the Natural Sciences Tripos
The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...
as an undergraduate student of Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
.[ He graduated in 1960 and went on to gain a ]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 ...
in 1964 supervised by Tony Callear.[
]
Research and career
Smith was a leading researcher in reaction 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 wh ...
, energy transfer
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...
and molecular dynamics
Molecular dynamics (MD) is a computer simulation method for analyzing the physical movements of atoms and molecules. The atoms and molecules are allowed to interact for a fixed period of time, giving a view of the dynamic "evolution" of the ...
in gas phase
In the outline of physical science, physical sciences, a phase is a region of space (a thermodynamic system), throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, ref ...
systems.[ He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1995,][ a ]Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) is an award conferred by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom.
FRSC award
Achieving Fellow status in the chemical profession denotes to the wider community a high level of ...
(FRSC) and awarded the Tilden Prize
The Tilden Prize is an award that is made by the Royal Society of Chemistry for advances in chemistry. The award was established in 1939 and commemorates Sir William A. Tilden, a prominent British chemist. The prize runs annually with up to three ...
in 1983[ and the ]Polanyi Medal The Polanyi Medal is a biennial award of the Royal Society of Chemistry for outstanding contributions to the field of gas kinetics. The medal is presented at the International Symposium on Gas Kinetics after a plenary lecture given by the prize win ...
in 1990 by the Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...
. His former doctoral students include David Klenerman
Sir David Klenerman (born 1959) is a British biophysical chemist and a professor of biophysical chemistry at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge. He is best known for his contr ...
and Gus Hancock.
Personal life
He married Sue Morrish in 1961. They had four children.[
]
References
External links
Oral history interview transcript featuring Ian W. M. Smith as part of the Cambridge Seminar Group Session, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ian William Murison
20th-century British chemists
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
People educated at Giggleswick School
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
1937 births
2016 deaths