The Professorship of Physical Chemistry is a permanently-established

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

ship at 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 ...

, created in 1920. For the first six decades of its existence, the incumbent was also Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry – a separate entity from the then Department of Chemistry, albeit latterly occupying the same building in Lensfield Road. Following the merger of these two departments in the early 1980s, holders of this Chair have often served as Head of the current unified Department of Chemistry. Occupants of the chair to date have been: #

Martin Lowry Thomas Martin Lowry (; 26 October 1874 – 2 November 1936) was an English physical chemist who developed the Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory simultaneously with and independently of Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and was a founder-member an ...

(1920–1936),
proposed the

Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory The Brønsted–Lowry theory (also called proton theory of acids and bases) is an acid–base reaction theory which was proposed independently by Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted and Thomas Martin Lowry in 1923. The fundamental concept of this theory ...

# Ronald G. W. Norrish (1937–1965),

Nobel laureate in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry ( sv, Nobelpriset i kemi) is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the 1895 will of Alfred ...

(1967), developed the

Norrish reaction A Norrish reaction in organic chemistry is a photochemical reaction taking place with ketones and aldehydes. Such reactions are subdivided into Norrish type I reactions and Norrish type II reactions. The reaction is named after Ronald George Wreyfo ...

# Jack Linnett (1965-1975),
Master of Sidney Sussex College (1970–1975)

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

(1973–1975), proposed the Linnett double-quartet theory # John Meurig Thomas (1978–1987),
Master of Peterhouse (1993–2002), Royal Medallist (2016), a founder of

solid-state chemistry Solid-state chemistry, also sometimes referred as materials chemistry, is the study of the synthesis, structure, and properties of solid phase materials, particularly, but not necessarily exclusively of, non-molecular solids. It therefore has a str ...

Sir David King Sir David Anthony King (born 12 August 1939) is a South African-born British chemist, academic, and head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. King first taught at Imperial College, London, the University of East Anglia, and was then Brunne ...

(1988–2006),
Master of Downing College (1995–2000),

Government Chief Scientific Adviser The UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) is the personal adviser on science and technology-related activities and policies to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet; and head of the Government Office for Science. The Chief Scientific Advi ...

(2000–2008), chair of Independent SAGE (2020–) # John Pyle (2007–),
Davy Medallist (2018), co-chair of the scientific assessment panel for the

Montreal Protocol The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion Ozone depletion consists of two related events observed sinc ...

In addition to the 1920 professorship, the university established a second Professorships of Physical Chemistry for a single tenure (i.e. as personal chair) for Brian Thrush, who held the office from 1978 to 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Professor of Physical Chemistry, *, Cambridge, 1920

Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, University of Cambridge 1920 establishments in England Physical Chemistry, *, Cambridge, 1920