Alwyn Davies

For the Australian rules footballer, see Alwyn Davies (footballer).

Alwyn G Davies
A portrait of AG Davies taken in his office in 2019.
Born	(1926-05-13)13 May 1926
Died	1 September 2023(2023-09-01) (aged 97)
Nationality	British
Occupation(s)	Chemist, historian of chemistry
Children	2
Awards	RSC Ingold Lecturer 1992-3, RSC Medal for Organic Reaction Mechanism, 1989; Humboldt Prize, Freiburg University, 1994.
Scientific career
Institutions	University College London
Doctoral advisor	Christopher Ingold

Alwyn George Davies FRS^[1] (13 May 1926 – 1 September 2023) was a British chemist, emeritus professor, and Fellow of University College London.^[2][3]

Life and career

Alwyn George Davies was born on 13 May 1926.^[4] 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,^[5] radicals^[6] and organotin chemistry.^[7][8] 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.^[9] Giving regular talks about William Ramsay to visitors and undergraduates, he was UCL Chemistry's unofficial historian and archivist.^[10]

Alwyn Davies died on 1 September 2023, at the age of 97.^[9]

References

1. Puddephatt, Richard J. (2024). "Alwyn George Davies. 13 May 1926 — 1 September 2023". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 77.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
3. "Prof Alwyn G Davies". Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
4. "Davies, Prof. Alwyn George". WHO'S WHO 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
5. Davies, Alwyn G (1961). Organic Peroxides. Butterworths. p. 215.
6. Davies, A. G. (1993). "The Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectra of Organic Radical Ions". Chem. Soc. Rev.: 299–304. doi:10.1039/CS9932200299. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
7. Davies, Alwyn G (2004). Organotin Chemistry. Wiley VCH. p. 426. ISBN 9783527310234. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
8. Davies, Alwyn G; Pannell, Keith; Tiekink, Edward (2008). Tin Chemistry. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-75808-3.
9. "Alwyn Davies". The Royal Society. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
10. Davies, Alwyn G; Garratt, Peter G (2013). UCL Chemistry Department 1828–1974. St Albans: Science Reviews. p. 287. ISBN 9781900814461.

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/