David Parker (chemist) facts for kids

David Parker (born 30 July 1956) FRS FRSC is an English chemist, Chair Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Durham.

Early life and education

David Parker was born in Leadgate, County Durham. He grew up in Durham, England and was educated at Durham Johnston School and briefly at King Edward VI High School, Stafford. Having gained an Open Exhibition to Christ Church, Oxford, he read Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where he gained a First Class degree in 1978, and a DPhil in 1980,working with John Brown FRS, based on mechanistic studies in asymmetric catalysis.

Career and research

In 1980, he was appointed to a NATO Fellowship to work with Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel Prize, 1987), and was appointed to a Lectureship in Chemistry at Durham University, beginning in January 1982. He became Chair Professor of Chemistry at Hong Kong Baptist University in September 2022.

Parker's research investigates the design and synthesis of chiral functional molecules, materials and conjugates and has straddled the traditional disciplines of Physical, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry. Often collaborating with European and UK industry, he has worked on collaborative projects leading to the introduction of imaging and therapeutic agents, including the antibody conjugate MyloTarg.

Awards and honours

Parker gained recognition from the Royal Society of Chemistry, being awarded, among other prizes, the Corday-Morgan Medal (1987), Ludwig Mond Medal (2011), the Hickinbottom Award (1988), an Interdisciplinary Award (RSC, 1996), a Tilden Lectureship (2003) and the Ludwig Mond Prize and Medal (2011). In 2002 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and gained the ICI Prize in Organic Chemistry in 1991 and the Lecoq de Boisbaudran prize in rare earth science in 2012. In 2014, he was made an EPSRC RISE Fellow, recognising inspiration in science and engineering.