Alwyn Davies
{{Short description|British chemist (1926–2023)}}
{{for|the Australian rules footballer|Alwyn Davies (footballer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Alwyn G Davies
| image = Alwyn-davies-IMG 5358a.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = A portrait of AG Davies taken in his office in 2019.
| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|05|13|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|09|01|1926|05|13|df=y}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Chemist, historian of chemistry
| nationality = British
| workplaces = University College London
| spouse =
| parents =
| children = 2
| thesis_year =
| doctoral_advisor = Christopher Ingold
| thesis_title =
| awards = RSC Ingold Lecturer 1992-3, RSC Medal for Organic Reaction Mechanism, 1989; Humboldt Prize, Freiburg University, 1994.
}}
Alwyn George Davies FRS{{Cite journal |last=Puddephatt |first=Richard J. |date=2024 |title=Alwyn George Davies. 13 May 1926 — 1 September 2023 |url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2024.0019 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=77}} (13 May 1926 – 1 September 2023) was a British chemist, emeritus professor, and Fellow of University College London.{{Cite web |url=http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/d/11896/Alwyn%20George+DAVIES.aspx |title=Archived copy |access-date=9 December 2011 |archive-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314140735/https://debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/d/11896/Alwyn%20George%2BDAVIES.aspx |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemistry/staff/emeritus/alwyn_davies |title=Prof Alwyn G Davies |access-date=2011-12-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120070947/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemistry/staff/emeritus/alwyn_davies |archive-date=2012-01-20 |url-status=dead }}
Life and career
Alwyn George Davies was born on 13 May 1926.{{cite web |title=Davies, Prof. Alwyn George |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/display/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-12956?rskey=0JAVQH&result=1 |website=WHO'S WHO 2023 |access-date=17 May 2023}} Alwyn came to UCL as an undergraduate in 1944. He was awarded a B.Sc. from University College London in 1946, and Ph.D. in 1949, where he studied with Christopher Kelk Ingold.
Davies was a lecturer at Battersea Polytechnic, from 1949 to 1953. He also taught at University College London from 1953 to 1991, with promotion to Reader in 1964 and Professor in 1968. His research focused on organic peroxides,{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Alwyn G |title=Organic Peroxides |date=1961 |publisher=Butterworths |pages=215}} radicals{{cite journal |last1=Davies |first1=A. G. |title=The Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectra of Organic Radical Ions |journal=Chem. Soc. Rev. |date=1993 |pages=299-304 |doi=10.1039/CS9932200299 |url=https://doi.org/10.1039/CS9932200299 |access-date=4 September 2023}} and organotin chemistry.{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Alwyn G |title=Organotin Chemistry |date=2004 |publisher=Wiley VCH |isbn=9783527310234 |pages=426 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/3527601899 |access-date=4 September 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Alwyn G |last2=Pannell |first2=Keith |last3=Tiekink |first3=Edward |title=Tin Chemistry |date=2008 |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |isbn=978-0-470-75808-3}} His students were sometimes referred to as "Alwyn's Tin Men".
Davies was interim Head of Department from 1971 to 1974, after Ronald Sidney Nyholm's death in 1970. He was elected FRS in 1989.{{cite web |title=Alwyn Davies |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/11303/ |website=The Royal Society |access-date=28 October 2023}} Giving regular talks about William Ramsay to visitors and undergraduates, he was UCL Chemistry's unofficial historian and archivist.{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Alwyn G |last2=Garratt |first2=Peter G |title=UCL Chemistry Department 1828–1974 |date=2013 |publisher=Science Reviews |location=St Albans |isbn=9781900814461 |pages=287}}
References
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External links
- https://web.archive.org/web/20121105220447/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/chemistry/staff/emeritus/alwyn_davies/research
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120426041635/http://solarsaddle.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/william-ramsay-a-blue-plaque-9-february-2011/
{{FRS 1989}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Alwyn}}
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Alumni of University College London