Hazel Rossotti
{{Short description|British chemist and author (1930–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| birth_name = Hazel Marsh
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y |1930|02|01}}
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y |2023|12|24 |1930|02|01}}
| education = Millfield School
| alma_mater = University of Oxford
| thesis_title = Some investigations of organic reagents for metals
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| thesis_year = 1954
| doctoral_advisor = Robert Williams
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| known_for = Chemistry; popular science writing
|spouse= Francis Rossotti (1927–2019)
}}
Hazel Rossotti (1 February 1930 – 24 December 2023) was a British chemist and science writer.https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/dr-hazel-rossotti-1930-2023/
Early life and education
Rossotti (née Marsh) left Millfield School in 1948 and completed her undergraduate and PhD at the University of Oxford.{{cite journal |editor1-last=Davies |editor1-first=John |title=Distinguished Old Millfieldians |journal=Old Millfieldian Society Chronicle |date=2012 |page=12 |url=https://issuu.com/strattons/docs/millfield_chronicle_2012 |access-date=21 July 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?Book=249688|title=Chemistry in the Schoolroom: 1806|website=www.authorhouse.co.uk|access-date=2018-05-30}}{{Cite book|title=St Hugh?s: One Hundred Years of Women?s Education in Oxford|others=Griffin, Penny|isbn=9781349077250|location=London|pages=240|oclc=1004389700|last1 = Griffin|first1 = Penny|date=1986-06-30}} Her research considered the stability of metal-ion complexes, and she worked under the supervision of Robert Williams.{{Cite journal|last1=Hill|first1=H. A. O.|last2=Thomson|first2=A. J.|date=2016-08-24|title=Robert Joseph Paton Williams MBE. 25 February 1926 — 21 March 2015|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|language=en|volume=62|pages=541–570|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2016.0020|issn=0080-4606|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last=Rossotti|first=Hazel|date=2010-09-02|title=Some relationships among the stabilities of metal complexes|journal=Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas|language=en|volume=75|issue=7|pages=763–768|doi=10.1002/recl.19560750707|issn=0165-0513}}{{Cite journal|last=Brewer|first=Leo|date=1962-05-18|title=The Determination of Stability Constants and Other Equilibrium Constants in Solution. Francis J. C. Rossotti and Hazel Rossotti. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961. xiv + 425 pp. $12.50|journal=Science|language=en|volume=136|issue=3516|pages=643–644|doi=10.1126/science.136.3516.643|s2cid=95255460|issn=0036-8075}} In 1952 she married fellow chemist Francis Rossotti, a fellow graduate student, at St Peter-in-the-East, now part of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.{{Cite news|url=https://issuu.com/sthughscollegeoxford/docs/chronicle_1952-1953|title=St Hugh's College, Oxford - Chronicle 1952-1953|work=Issuu|access-date=2018-05-30|language=en}}
Career
In 1962 Rossotti was appointed a Fellow and Tutor in chemistry at St Anne's College, Oxford, and retired in 1997.{{Cite web|url=http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/Publications/THE_SHIP-2013-web.pdf|title=The Ship|date=2012|website=St Anne's College, Oxford|access-date=2018-05-30|archive-date=24 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424100554/http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/Publications/THE_SHIP-2013-web.pdf|url-status=dead}} She was an advisor to Mary Archer, and an Emeritus Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford.{{Cite web|url=http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/people/emeritus-honorary-supernumerary-and-senior-research-fellows|title=St Anne's College, Oxford > About the College > Emeritus, Honorary, & Supernumerary and Senior Research Fellows|website=www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-05-30|archive-date=14 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714143434/http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/people/emeritus-honorary-supernumerary-and-senior-research-fellows|url-status=dead}}
Rossotti held a long-standing passion for photography, and became known as an accomplished photographer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.soue.org.uk/souenews/issue7/centenary.html|title=One Hundred Years of Engineering Science at Oxford, 1908-2008|website=www.soue.org.uk}} She specialised in black and white portraits, often of scientists and other colleagues.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/goodenough-rules/8099.article|title=Goodenough rules|first=Bea|last=Perks2014-12-23T00:00:00+00:00|website=Chemistry World}} In 1974, Rossotti nominated French artist and photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson for an honorary doctorate at the University of Oxford. To mark this award, Cartier-Bresson gifted Rossotti a silver gelatine print of a 1938 photograph of 'Sunday on the Banks of the River Seine'. This print is now held in the Bodleian libraries.{{Cite web|url=https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/10110|title=Collection: Silver gelatine print by Henri Cartier-Bresson and associated documents | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts|website=archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk}} In 1997, Rossotti designed and made the stained glass panels in the library building, Hartland house.{{Cite web|url=https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/life-here/library/blog/name/|title=What’s in a name? | St Anne's College, Oxford|date=14 December 2023}}
Books
Rossotti published numerous science books, on diverse topics from chemistry to colour, fire and Greece. Oliver Sacks remarked that Rossotti was a born teacher and writer, 'incapable of writing a dull word'.https://www.npr.org/2010/12/09/131936824/oliver-sacks-on-his-burning-love-of-fire
- 1969 - Chemical Applications of Potentiometry{{Cite book|title=Chemical applications of potentiometry.|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1969|publisher=Van Nostrand|isbn=978-0442070489|location=London|oclc=36088}}
- 1970 - H2O{{Cite book|title=H2O|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1970|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Pugh, Margaret.|isbn=978-0199180059|location=London|oclc=30273177}}
- 1971 - Metals{{Cite web|url=http://obnb.uk/p7685706-metals|title=Metals :: Hazel Rossotti :: ISBN 0199180091 :: Oxford University Press 1971 :: OBNB, the Open British National Bibliography|website=obnb.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-05-30}}
- 1975 - Air{{Cite book|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/45758620|title=Air|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|last2=Phillips|first2=Douglas|last3=Dear|first3=Brian|last4=Dear|first4=Constance|date=1973|publisher=London [etc.] : Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199180264|language=English}}
- 1975 - Introducing Chemistry{{Cite book|title=Introducing chemistry|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1975|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0140218640|location=Harmondsworth|oclc=2020201}}
- 1978 - Study of Ionic Equilibria{{Cite book|title=The study of ionic equilibria : an introduction|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1978|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0582441750|location=London|oclc=3517031}}
- 1985 - Why the World Isn't Grey{{Cite book|title=Colour|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1984|origyear=1983|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691083698|location=Princeton, N.J.|oclc=10778491|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/colour00ross}}
- 1993 - Fire{{Cite book|title=Fire|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0198557227|location=Oxford|oclc=26163110|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fire0000ross}}
- 1998 - Diverse Atoms{{Cite book|title=Diverse atoms : profiles of the chemical elements|first=Hazel|last=Rossotti|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0198558156|location=New York|oclc=37254363}}
- 2006 - Chemistry in the Schoolroom: 1806{{Cite book|title=Chemistry in the schoolroom, 1806 : selections from Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on chemistry|last=Marcet |first=Jane Haldimand|date=2006|publisher=AuthorHouse|others=Rossotti, Hazel.|isbn=978-1425905347|location=Bloomington, Ind.|oclc=70139772}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.chemistryworld.com/feature/the-woman-that-inspired-faraday/3004860.article|title=The woman that inspired Faraday|work=Chemistry World|access-date=2018-05-30|language=en}}
References
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Category:British women chemists
Category:British women scientists
Category:British science writers
Category:People educated at Millfield