Michael Philip Hartshorn (10 September 1936 – 15 December 2017) was a British-born New Zealand organic chemist. He was awarded the Hector Memorial Medal by the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1973.

Early life and education

Born in

Keresley Keresley is a suburban village and civil parish in the City of Coventry, West Midlands, England, about north of Coventry city centre and southwest of Bedworth. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 791 falling to 713 a ...

on the outskirts of Coventry, Warwickshire, England, on 10 September 1936, Hartshorn was the son of Bernard Hartshorn and Christine Evelyn Hartshorn (née Bennett). He studied at Imperial College London, from where he graduated BSc and ARCS, and at University College, Oxford, where he obtained a DPhil in 1960. His doctoral thesis was titled ''Steroid hormone analogues''. Hartshorn married Jacqueline Joll in 1963, and the couple went on to have four sons. He became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1965.

Academic and research career

Hartshorn was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

in Christchurch in 1960, and rose to become a professor in 1972. When he retired in 1996 he was made a professor emeritus. Hartshorn's research centred on

reaction mechanism In chemistry, a reaction mechanism is the step by step sequence of elementary reactions by which overall chemical change occurs. A chemical mechanism is a theoretical conjecture that tries to describe in detail what takes place at each stage of ...

s. He investigated the chemical rearrangement of

steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

s, cyclic sulfites, monoterpenes and

acetylenic In organic chemistry, the term acetylenic designates *A doubly unsaturated position (''sp''-hybridized) on a molecular framework, for instance in an alkyne such as acetylene; *An ethynyl fragment, HC\equivC–, or substituted homologue. See also ...

alcohols. His research included the ipso nitration of aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols, and their reactions with

fuming nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitric ...

and nitrogen dioxide, as well as the chlorination of polysubstituted phenols. He also studied the reactions of cation

radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

arising from the

photolysis Photodissociation, photolysis, photodecomposition, or photofragmentation is a chemical reaction in which molecules of a chemical compound are broken down by photons. It is defined as the interaction of one or more photons with one target molecule. ...

of aromatic hydrocarbons. Hartshorn was elected a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry in 1969, and a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand the following year. In 1973, he received the Hector Memorial Medal, at that time the highest honour for scientific excellence awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Death

Hartshorn died in Christchurch on 15 December 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartshorn, Michael 1936 births 2017 deaths People from Coventry Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of University College, Oxford English chemists English emigrants to New Zealand Academic staff of the University of Canterbury Naturalised citizens of New Zealand New Zealand chemists Organic chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand Fellows of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry