Paul O'Brien One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (22 January 1954 – 16 October 2018) was professor of

Inorganic Materials In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemi ...

at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

. where he has served as head of the School of Chemistry from 2004 to 2009 and head of the School of Materials from 2011 to 2015. He died on 16 October 2018 at the age of 64.

Education

O'Brien was educated at Cardinal Langley Grammar School in

Middleton, Greater Manchester Middleton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk southwest of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester city centre. Middleton had a population of 42,972 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the ...

and the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975. He went on to complete a PhD at

University College, Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

in 1978 with a thesis on the

catalysis Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

of the racemisation of

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha ...

s supervised by Robert D. Gillard.

Research

O'Brien was an inorganic materials scientist focusing on developing new chemical processes for manufacturing

thin film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer ( monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ...

s and

nanoparticle A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometres (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 10 ...

s. Amongst these are

chemical vapour deposition Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films. In typical CVD, the wafer (substra ...

techniques for compounds containing

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

, and a very simple method for making

quantum dot Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor particles a few nanometres in size, having optical and electronic properties that differ from those of larger particles as a result of quantum mechanics. They are a central topic in nanotechnology. When the ...

s –

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way ...

nanocrystal A ''nanocrystal'' is a material particle having at least one dimension smaller than 100 nanometres, based on quantum dots (a nanoparticle) and composed of atoms in either a single- or poly-crystalline arrangement. The size of nanocrystals dist ...

s that show quantum behaviour. He collaborated on projects with physicists, computer scientists and electronic and electrical engineers. His interest in the toxicity of metal ions led to collaborations and publications with toxicologists, pharmacists and clinicians. He was an advocate of communicating science to a wider audience and gave popular talks – usually on nanotechnology – including Café Scientifique and school lectures. He edited several books, including a series on

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal ...

for the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). In 2001 he founded the spin-off company, NanoCo Technologies, to commercialise the manufacture of quantum dots not containing heavy metals. O'Brien was passionate about international development and over two decades he worked tirelessly to encourage excellence in teaching and learning across Africa, with very strong ties to the

University of Zululand The University of Zululand or UniZulu is the only comprehensive tertiary educational institution north of the Tugela River in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its new status is in accordance with South Africa's National Plan for Higher Education ...

. His efforts changed the lives of many young African scientists and his students called him their “Father of Chemistry”.

Awards and honours

O'Brien's awards include the Kroll Award, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3)'s Sir

Colin Humphreys Sir Colin John Humphreys, (born 24 May 1941) is a British physicist. He is the Professor of Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London. He is the former Goldsmiths' Professor of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge and the ...

Award (for outreach) and Platinum Medal, the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC) Gold Medal, the RSC's first Peter Day Award, and honorary degrees from the

, the

and the

University of Aveiro The University of Aveiro ( pt, Universidade de Aveiro) is a public university, in addition to providing polytechnic education, located in the Portuguese city of Aveiro. Founded in 1973, it has a student population of approximately 12,500, distri ...

. O'Brien was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2013, his certificate of election reads: In 2016, O'Brien was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to science and engineering, received the RSC Longstaff Prize and was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...

(FREng).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Paul 1954 births 2018 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society British chemists Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining