:Neil Bartlett (chemist)

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Neil Bartlett

| image = Neil Bartlett.jpg

| image_size =

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1932|9|15}}

| birth_place = Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2008|8|5|1932|9|15}}

| death_place = Walnut Creek, California, United States

| citizenship = US

| nationality = British

| ethnicity =

| fields = Chemistry

| workplaces = University of British Columbia
Princeton University
University of California, Berkeley

| alma_mater = King's College, University of Durham (Newcastle University)

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| notable_students =

| known_for = Creating the first noble gas compound

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| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = Corday–Morgan Prize {{small|(1962)}}
Steacie Prize {{small|(1965)}}
Elliott Cresson Medal {{small|(1968)}}
Welch Award in Chemistry {{small|(1976)}}
William H. Nichols Medal {{small|(1983)}}
Davy Medal {{small|(2002)}}

| religion =

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}}

Neil Bartlett (15 September 1932 – 5 August 2008) was a British chemist who specialized in fluorine and compounds containing fluorine, and became famous for creating the first noble gas compounds. He taught chemistry at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley.

Biography

Neil Bartlett was born on 15 September 1932 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.{{cite web|title=Neil Bartlett and the Reactive Noble Gases|url=http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/bartlettnoblegases/index.htm|publisher=American Chemical Society|access-date=5 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112091550/http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/bartlettnoblegases/index.htm|archive-date=12 January 2013|df=dmy-all}} Bartlett's interest in chemistry dated back to an experiment at Heaton Grammar School when he was only eleven years old, in which he prepared "beautiful, well-formed" crystals by reaction of aqueous ammonia with copper sulfate.{{Cite web|url = http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/neilbartlett.html|title = Neil Bartlett, In Memoriam|access-date = 12 July 2014|last = Jolly|first = William L.|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130717174625/http://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/inmemoriam/neilbartlett.html|archive-date = 17 July 2013|df = dmy-all}} He explored chemistry by constructing a makeshift lab in his parents' home using chemicals and glassware he purchased from a local supply store. He went on to attend King's College, University of Durham (which went on to become Newcastle University{{cite web |url=http://www.ncl.ac.uk/regulations/docs/statutes.pdf |title=Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Act 1963 |publisher=Newcastle University |access-date=7 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705075412/http://www.ncl.ac.uk/regulations/docs/statutes.pdf |archive-date=5 July 2010 |url-status=dead }}) in the United Kingdom where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (1954) and then a doctorate (1958){{Cite book|title = American Men & Women of Science – 26th Edition |last = Henderson |first = Andrea Kovacs|publisher = Gale|year = 2009|isbn = 978-1-4144-3301-1|location = Farmington Hills, MI|pages = 397}} in the inorganic chemistry research group of Dr. P.L. Robinson.{{cite web |title=Biography of Neil Bartlett |url=http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/publications/news/2006/bio_bartlett.php |website=College of Chemistry |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=5 September 2023 |date=2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923143345/http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/publications/news/2006/bio_bartlett.php |archive-date=23 September 2009 |quote=Neil decided that his strengths lay with inorganic chemistry, and after his graduation with a BSc in 1954, he began research in that field, in Dr. P.L. Robinson's Inorganic Chemistry Research Group.}}

In 1958, Bartlett's career began upon being appointed a lecturer in chemistry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada where he would ultimately reach the rank of full professor. During his time at the university he made his discovery that noble gases were indeed reactive enough to form bonds. He remained there until 1966, when he moved to Princeton University as a professor of chemistry and a member of the research staff at Bell Laboratories. He then went on to join the chemistry department at the University of California, Berkeley in 1969 as a professor of chemistry until his retirement in 1993. He was also a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1969 to 1999. In 2000, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He died on 5 August 2008 of a ruptured aortic aneurysm.{{Cite web|url = http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/08/12_bartlett.shtml|title = Neil Bartlett, emeritus professor of chemistry, dies at 75|date = 8 December 2008|access-date = 12 July 2014|website = Neil Bartlett, emeritus professor of chemistry, dies at 75|publisher = UC Berkeley News|last = Barnes|first = Michael}} He lived with his wife Christina Bartlett until his death. They had four children.

Research

Bartlett's main specialty was the chemistry of fluorine and of compounds containing fluorine. In 1962, Bartlett prepared the first noble gas compound, xenon hexafluoroplatinate,{{cite journal

| title = Xenon hexafluoroplatinate(V) Xe⁺[PtF₆]⁻

| last = Bartlett | first = Neil

| journal = Proceedings of the Chemical Society

| volume = 1962 | issue = 6

| page = 218

| year = 1962

| doi = 10.1039/PS9620000197}}{{cite journal |last1=Hargittai |first1=Istvan |date=2009 |title=Neil Bartlett and the first noble-gas compound |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11224-009-9526-9.pdf |journal=Structural Chemistry |volume=20 |issue=December |pages=953–959 |doi=10.1007/s11224-009-9526-9 |s2cid=94962566 |access-date=27 August 2018|doi-access=free }} Xe⁺[PtF₆]⁻. This contradicted established models of the nature of valency, as it was believed that all noble gases were entirely inert to chemical combination. His discovery incited other chemists to discover several other fluorides of xenon:{{cite book |last1=Harding |first1=Charlie |last2=Johnson |first2=David Arthur |last3=Janes |first3=Rob |title=Elements of the P Block, Volume 1 |date=2002 |publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry |isbn=0-85404-690-9 |page=91 |access-date=28 September 2023 |quote=After Bartlett's discovery, other chemists quickly re-examined Pauling's suggestion that xenon would combine with fluorine. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0HW8wgmQQsC&pg=PA91}} XeF₂, XeF₄, and XeF₆.

Honors

In 1968 he was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal. In 1973, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (United Kingdom). In 1976 he received the Welch Award in Chemistry for his synthesis of chemical compounds of noble gases and the consequent opening of broad new fields of research in the inorganic chemistry. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=19 May 2011}} In 1979, he was honored as a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the prestigious Davy Medal in 2002 for his discovery that the noble gases were not that noble after all. Previous recipients of the Davy Medal had included people as diverse as Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, the inventor of the Bunsen burner, and Albert Ladenburg, who suggested the existence of the compound prismane. In 2006, his research into the reactivity of noble gases was designated jointly by the American Chemical Society and the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) as an International Historic Chemical Landmark at the University of British Columbia in recognition of its significance, "fundamental to the scientific understanding of the chemical bond." Bartlett was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Chemistry every year between 1963 and 1966 but did not get the Prize.https://old.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=13013 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415174753/https://old.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=13013 |date=15 April 2022 }} Nobel Prize nomination database

Hospitalization

In January 1963, Bartlett and his graduate student, P. R. Rao, were hospitalized after an explosion in the laboratory. As they looked at what they thought might be the first crystals of XeF₂, the compound exploded, getting shards of glass in the eyes of both men. According to Bartlett, he thought that the compound may have contained water molecules, and he and Rao took off their glasses to get a better look. They were both taken to the hospital for four weeks, and Bartlett was left with damaged vision in one eye. The last piece of glass from this accident was removed 27 years later.{{Cite book |last=Ball |first=Philip |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/958129576 |title=Elegant solutions : ten beautiful experiments in chemistry |date=2015 |others=Royal Society of Chemistry |isbn=978-1-78262-546-9 |location=Cambridge |oclc=958129576}}

References

External links

{{cite web | url = http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/publications/news/2006/bio_bartlett.php | title = Biography of Neil Bartlett | publisher = University of California, Berkeley | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090923143345/http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/publications/news/2006/bio_bartlett.php | archive-date = 23 September 2009 | df = dmy-all }}
{{cite web | url = http://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/Portraits/PortraitsHH_Detail.asp?HH_LName=BartlettN | publisher = Michigan State University | title = MSU Gallery of Chemists' Photo-Portraits and Mini-Biographies: Neil Bartlett | access-date = 6 November 2012 | archive-date = 5 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120205055639/http://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/Portraits/PortraitsHH_Detail.asp?HH_LName=BartlettN | url-status = dead }}

Category:1932 births

Category:2008 deaths

Category:Alumni of King's College, Newcastle

Category:Deaths from aortic aneurysm

Category:English chemists

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:British inorganic chemists

Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences

Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

Category:People educated at Heaton Grammar School

Category:Princeton University faculty