Peter Gray. 25 August 1926 — 7 June 2012

Abstract

Peter Gray was an internationally recognized research leader in the areas of combustion chemistry and chemical instabilities. His undergraduate education and early research career were in Cambridge. He moved to the University of Leeds in 1955, becoming Head of Physical Chemistry there in 1965. In 1988 he returned to Cambridge as Master of Gonville and Caius College. Peter’s scientific contributions covered experimental and theoretical studies of chemical and thermal instabilities in combustion systems and in isothermal systems exhibiting autocatalysis, and of flames and chemical waves. His work provided the framework for understanding the thermokinetic origin of cool flames and multiple-stage ignitions and for the onset of ignition and oscillations in chemical systems more generally. He served on a series of important government committees and held major office for the Faraday Society and the Combustion Institute. He published more than 300 research articles and one monograph and was awarded a series of major prizes, including the Marlow Medal, the Bernard Lewis Gold Medal and the Italgas Prize.