Physical Chemistry at Durham: Prof. W. F. K. Wynne-Jones

Abstract

PROF. W. F. K. WYNNE-JONES, professor of chemistry at University College, Dundee, University of St. Andrews, has been appointed to the chair of physical chemistry at King's College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, University of Durham, in succession to Prof. H. L. Riley (see Nature, Dec. 14, 1946, p. 867). Prof. Wynne-Jones is a D.Sc. of the University of Wales, having begun his academic career at University College, Aberystwyth; later he went to Oxford. He continued his chemical studies with Bronsted at Copenhagen, and spent some time with H. S. Taylor at Princeton University as a Leverhulme scholar. After having held appointments in the Universities of Bristol and Reading, he went, in 1938, to Dundee. During 1942–44, he took over the duties of head of the Chemistry Department of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough; and during the War he also supervised electro-chemical research work, which was carried out at University College, Dundee, for the Ministry of Supply. Prof. Wynne-Jones' main research work has been in the field of chemical kinetics. He has worked on acid-base catalytic reactions in solution, and on electrolytic dissociation processes. His work also includes studies in the role of solvent in reaction kinetic processes, and on the effect of isotope exchange on reaction-rates, particularly the exchange of deuterium and hydrogen.