Donald Charlton Bradley
{{Short description|British chemist}}
{{distinguish|Donal Bradley}}
{{Use MDY dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Donald Charlton Bradley
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS|size=small}}
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|11|07|df=y}}
| birth_place = London, United Kingdom
| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|12|20|1924|11|07|df=y}}
| nationality = British
| alma_mater = Birkbeck, University of London
| children = {{Plainlist| * 1 son (with Joy Hazeldean)
- 1 stepdaughter (from Ann Levy)}}
| awards = Royal Medal
| spouse = {{plainlist|* Joy Hazeldean (1948–1985 [her death])
- Ann Levy (1990–2014 [his death])}}
| fields = Inorganic chemistry
| workplaces = {{ublist|Queen Mary, University of London|Imperial College}}
| thesis_title =
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year =
| doctoral_advisor = William Wardlaw
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students = Malcolm H. Chisholm
| notable_students =
| known_for =
| influences =
| influenced =
}}
Donald Charlton Bradley {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS}}, (1924–2014) was a British chemist who was recognized for his work on the chemistry of metal-alkoxides and metal-amides, their synthesis, structure and bonding, and for his studies of their conversions to metal-oxides and metal-nitrides.{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.109463|title=Bradley, Donald Charlton}}{{cite web|title=Professor Donald Bradley FRS|website=Birjbeck, University of London|url=http://www.bbk.ac.uk/about-us/obituaries/obituary-professor-donald-bradley-frs|access-date=20 June 2020}}
Biography
Donald Charlton Bradley was born in London on 7 November 1924 at the Paddington Green Children's Hospital, the son of Gladys Winifred Bradley, a milliner, from Leamington Spa. Gladys’s older sister Doris Marian and her husband John brought up Donald, mostly in Hove. There he attended Hove County Grammar School for Boys.
After gaining his Higher School Certificate in sciences and maths, Bradley was directed to work at the British Electrical and Allied Industries Research Association (ERA) in northwest London, as part of the war effort. He investigated the effects of mustard gas on electrical components, and how to extend the lifetime of capacitors. During this apprenticeship he enrolled for a part-time degree at Birkbeck College in London, and gained a first-class BSc in 1946. He went on to do research for a PhD, under Professor William Wardlaw.{{cite journal|last=Overend|first=W G|title=Prof. W. Wardlaw, CBE|journal=Nature|issue=4660|page=505|date=21 February 1959|volume=183|doi=10.1038/183505a0|bibcode=1959Natur.183..505O|s2cid=4269138|doi-access=free}} during which he studied zirconium alkoxide compounds [Zr(OR)4]n. He was awarded his PhD in 1950.
Bradley continued at Birkbeck, working with Ram Charan Mehrotra, who was visiting for two years from India, and Marc Faktor,{{cite book|last=Bray|first=John|title=Innovation and the Communications Revolution: From the Victorian Pioneers to Broadband Internet|publisher=The Institution of Engineering and Technology|pages=236–37|date=2002}} among others.
On 21 August 1959, Bradley, his wife and son sailed on the SS Maasdam from Southampton to Canada, UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960, Ancestry en route to London, Ontario, where Donald was to take up a professorial job at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), working with Fred Pattison{{cite web|title=Frederick (Fred) Lewis Maitland PATTISON|website=yourlifemoments.ca|url=http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oid=417541|access-date=20 June 2020}} and Paul de Mayo.{{cite web|title=Paul de Mayo (Post doctoral mentor)|website=Department of Chemistry, University of Miami|url=https://chemistry.as.miami.edu/_assets/pdf/mayo.pdf|access-date=20 June 2020}}{{cite web|title=History of the Department of Chemistry|website=Western University|url=https://www.uwo.ca/chem/about_us/department_history.htm|access-date=20 June 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622232041/https://www.uwo.ca/chem/about_us/department_history.htm|url-status=dead}}
After six years in Canada, Bradley was offered the chair in inorganic chemistry at Queen Mary College in London (QM), starting in 1965. Amongst other achievements he hired crystallographer Michael Hursthouse{{cite web|title=Professor Michael B Hursthouse: Emeritus Professor|website=University of Southampton|url=https://www.southampton.ac.uk/chemistry/about/staff/mbh.page|access-date=20 June 2020}} and so started a thriving X-ray crystallography group at QM.
Don formally retired in 1987, remaining very active in research as emeritus professor of inorganic chemistry.
=Family=
While at the ERA Bradley met Constance Joy Hazeldean (Joy), the librarian there. They married in 1948 and had one child, David, on 18 May 1951. Joy died on 9 March 1985.
In January 1988 he met Ann Levy (née MacDonald). They married at St Olav’s church in the City of London on 10 June 1990.
Donald Charlton Bradley died on 20 December 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-donald-bradley-one-of-britains-foremost-inorganic-chemists-whose-work-was-key-to-the-growth-of-modern-electronics-10107622.html|title=Professor Donald Bradley: One of Britain's foremost inorganic chemists|last=Thomas|first=Sir John Meurig|date=2015-03-13|website=The Independent|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-06-22}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Donald Charlton}}
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire