William Boon

For the Australian rules footballer, see William Boon (footballer).
William Robert Boon
Born20 March 1911
Died28 October 1994
Alma materKing's College London
Known forParaquat
AwardsMullard Award (1972)
FRS (1974)

William Robert Boon FRS FRSC (20 March 1911 – 28 October 1994) was a British chemist, known for developing the herbicide paraquat.

Early life

He was educated at St Dunstan's College and King's College London (BSc; PhD).[1]

Career

ICI

He developed Bipyridine compounds (4,4'-Bipyridine) in 1954 at ICI's Jealott's Hill Experimental Station (Plant Protection Limited) at Jealott's Hill (Warfield) in Berkshire (Bracknell Forest). These compounds are known as Paraquat-Gramoxone and Diquat, being released onto the market in 1958.

Awards

He was awarded the Mullard Award of the Royal Society in 1972 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974.[2] He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of King's College London.

References

  1. ^ ‘BOON, Dr William Robert’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016
  2. ^ Wain, R. L. (1997). "William Robert Boon. 20 March 1911--28 October 1994: Elected F.R.S. 1974". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 43: 135. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1997.0008.