Sir Ewart Ray Herbert JonesFRS (16 March 1911 – 7 May 2002) was a Welsh organic chemist and academic administrator, whose fields of expertise led him to discoveries into the chemistry of natural products, mainly steroids, terpenes and vitamins.[1] His work also led to the creation of the Jones oxidation.[2]
Personal life
Jones was born in Wrexham in 1911, and grew up in the small village of Rhostyllen, Wales with his evangelical family. Between July 1924 and March 1927, his sister died of tuberculosis, his grandmother died and his father drowned himself. He attended Grove Park School in Wrexham, Wales and then entered the University College of North Wales, Bangor in 1929, hoping to concentrate on physics, but gained an honours degree in 1932 in Chemistry instead. He was invited to stay at the University by the head of the department, J.L. Simonsen, and stayed there for two years.[3]
In 1947, at the age of 36, he accepted the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester After experimenting with different reagents, he discovered the Jones oxidation (chromic acid oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones in acetone). After joining the Heilbron group in Manchester, Jones was introduced to acetylene chemistry which eventually led to his work with vitamin A. Later in life, he worked with the Halsall group, specifically with the hydroxypropanone molecule.[4]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1950 and was knighted in 1963. He served as president of the Chemical Society (1964–1966), President of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1970–1971) and the first President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (1980–1982). He won the Royal SocietyDavy Medal in 1966 "in recognition of his distinguished contributions to synthetic organic chemistry and to the elucidation of the structures of natural products".[5]
^Pearce Wright (18 May 2002). "Sir Ewart Jones". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
^Heilbron, I.M.; Jones, E.R.H.; Sondheimer, F (1949). "129. Researches on acetylenic compounds. Part XV. The oxidation of primary acetylenic carbinols and glycols". J. Chem. Soc.: 604. doi:10.1039/jr9490000604.