Mr. M. G. Evans

Abstract

THE chair of physical chemistry in the University of Leeds which fell vacant by the death of Prof. H. M. Dawson in February last, has been filled as from October 1 by the appointment of Mr. M. G. Evans, lecturer in chemistry in the University of Manchester. Born on December 2, 1904, he was educated at Leigh Grammar School and passed through the University of Manchester, where he was a pupil of Prof. A. Lapworth. While Prof. Hugh S. Taylor of Princeton was staying as a visitor for one term at the University of Manchester in 1931, Mr. Evans joined him in research on adsorption, and he renewed this connexion later by working for one year in the Frick Chemical Laboratory in Princeton, where he was closely associated with Prof. Henry Eyring. Since his return to Manchester in 1934, Mr. Evans has steadily doveloped his theoretical investigations on the mechanism of chemical reactions. During this time he has richly contributed to the fund of ideas which, it is the hope of the younger school of physical chemistry, promises to form a pattern for the understanding of at least the simpler types of reactions. The ugh Mr. Evans's principal contributions to science are in the theoretical field, he also took active interest in the experimental work carried on in Manchester. His appointment to one of the three chairs in the Department of Chemistry in Leeds is a significant recognition of the part which the new theories originating from quantum mechanics have to play in the life of chemistry to-day.