21 January 1963(1963-01-21) (aged 78) St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Occupation
Chemist
John Read (17 February 1884 – 21 January 1963) was a British chemist and scientific author.
Life
He was born on 17 February 1884 at Maiden Newton in Dorset, the son of John Read (1814-1889) a farmer, and his wife, Bessie Gatcombe (1854-1904). His father was 70 years old when he was born but his mother was only 30. His father died when John was five years old.
He was educated at Sparkford village school then Sexey's School in Bruton, Somerset. Around 1900 he obtained a Diploma in Science from Finsbury Technical College and won a place at the University of London studying Chemistry, graduating in 1907. He then went to Zürich as a postgraduate gaining his first doctorate (PhD).
In 1908 he began as an assistant in the Chemistry Department at Cambridge University. The university gave him a further MA in 1912. In 1916 the University of Sydney offered him the post of Professor of Organic Australia and so he emigrated to Australia. However he returned to Britain in 1923 as Professor of Chemistry at St Andrews University.[1]
In 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.[3] According to his application citation his work covered: " wide and important fields, including (a) Optical activity; (b) Formation of halogenohydrins from unsaturated compounds; (c) Investigation of Australian products, including eucalyptus oils, marine fibre, Papuan petroleum; (d) Terpene chemistry". He was also credited with building and developing the Sydney organic chemistry school.[4]
In 1916 he married Ida Suddards. The ship that she rode to join him in Australia evaded pursuit by a German submarine. They had two sons, Arthur, a mathematician and mountaineer, and Jan, a movie writer, author and photographer. A grandson, Richard Read, went on to become an American journalist.
