28 Jan 08

Sir John Rowlinson has been recognised by the American Chemical Society

Sir John Rowlinson to receive the 2008 Edelstein Award

The American Chemical Society History of Chemistry Division has announced that Sir John Shipley Rowlinson, a Fellow of Exeter College at Oxford, has been selected to receive the 2008 Sidney M. Edelstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry.

Sir John Rowlinson was chosen from a group of international nominees, according to the citation, ‘because of the breadth and quality of his research publications in the history of physical chemistry and his contributions over the last three decades to the development of the history of physical chemistry at the University of Oxford.’

Sir John has spent most of his career exploring cohesion and capillary, publishing an important text book, Liquids and Liquid Mixtures, in 1959 and the definitive Cohesion: A Scientific History of Intermolecular Forces in 2002 which covers the subject from Newton to the present time. Sir John retired from teaching in 1993, but remains active in a number of scientific societies, especially the Royal Society in London where he is a strong supporter of its historical activities.

The Edelstein Award consists of an engraved plaque and a check for $3500 and is supported by a gift from Ruth Edelstein Barish and family. The award is partially supported by the Chemical Heritage Foundation of Philadelphia and will be presented to Rowlinson at the fall national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia in August 2008.

Oxford Advanced Surfaces listed on Alternative Investment Market

Oxford Advanced Surfaces, a University spin-out company, has listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) stock exchange, achieving a market capitalisation of £94m by the close of trading on 25 January. The company’s surface coating technology is based on over ten years of research begun by Dr Mark Moloney and Dr Jon-Paul Griffiths in the Department of Chemistry.