Professor Geoffrey Bond: ‘Mr Gold’ International Expert in Gold Catalysis 1927–2022

Abstract

Professor Geoffrey C. Bond, PhD, DSc, FRSC, passed away after a short illness, peacefully in his sleep, on 9th January 2022 at Watford General Hospital, UK, close to his home in Rickmansworth. He was an international authority in the field of heterogeneous catalysis: the science that underpins almost all major industrial chemical processes. He specialised in catalysis by metals, which was the title of his first book published in 1962. Throughout his life he was in the vanguard of those extending the boundaries of his subject. Early work at the University of Hull, UK, featured the use of deuterium as an isotopic tracer to determine the detailed mechanisms of catalytic reactions. Next, at Johnson Matthey, UK, as Head of the Catalyst Research group he contributed to the development of vehicle exhaust catalysts. Then, at Brunel University, UK, he initiated a wide range of projects, culminating in his demonstration of the catalytic activity of gold: a metal which, until that time, ‘conventional wisdom’ had relegated to a class of inactive metals.