John Murrell (chemist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Murrell
FRS
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John Norman Murrell
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| Born | 2 March 1932 Brixton, England
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| Died | 25 January 2016 (aged 83) North Chailey, England
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| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | King’s College London |
| Known for |
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| Spouse(s) | (Dorothy) Shirley Read |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical chemistry |
| Institutions |
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| Influences | Christopher Longuet-Higgins |
John Norman Murrell (born March 2, 1932 – died January 25, 2016) was an important British scientist. He was a theoretical chemist, which means he used math and computers to understand how chemicals work. He helped make the UK famous for this type of chemistry in the second half of the 1900s. He was also a FRS, which is a big honor for scientists.
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Life Story of John Murrell
John Murrell was born in Brixton, England, on March 2, 1932. His dad, George, was a salesman and bakery manager, and his mom was Winifred.
When World War II started, his family moved to Reigate. John went to Reigate Grammar School from 1943. In 1950, he got a spot at King's College London (KCL) to study chemistry. He did very well and earned his first degree in 1953.
After that, he started working on his Ph.D. (a higher degree) in physics at KCL. His professor, Christopher Longuet-Higgins, soon moved to the University of Cambridge. John went with him to Cambridge and finished his Ph.D. in 1956.
Working in America
John Murrell won a special scholarship called a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship. This allowed him to work with a famous scientist named Robert S. Mulliken at the University of Chicago in the United States. While there, he wrote an important paper about how molecules share electrical charges.
In September 1957, he came back to Cambridge. He started looking at how molecular orbital theory could be used. This theory helps explain how electrons move around in molecules. He worked with other scientists like Edgar Heilbronner and Alan R. Katritzky.
Teaching and Research
In 1960, John Murrell moved to the University of Sheffield because George Porter invited him. He worked hard to build his own research team. Soon, he had five students working on their Ph.D.s and two other researchers helping him.
While at Sheffield, John took two breaks to work in other places. One was in Tallahassee, Florida, and the other was in Paris, France, where he worked with his friend Heilbronner again. During this time, he won the Meldola Medal and a special research fellowship from the Royal Society. In 1991, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
Later, in 1965, John became a professor of Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Sussex. Two years later, he helped bring another important scientist, Harry Kroto, to Sussex. John retired in 1997, but he still loved chemistry. He kept working at the university and helping students until just a few months before he passed away.
After he died in 2016, the John Murrell Fund was created. This fund helps chemistry Ph.D. students at Sussex who are having money problems.
His Family Life
John Murrell met (Dorothy) Shirley Read at a dance when they were both university students. Shirley was studying medicine. They got married in Farnborough in 1954.
In the 1960s, they had four children: two sons and two daughters. Their names were Catharine, Luke, Ruth, and Adrian John. Each child was born in a different place because of John's work moves!
Shirley also had a successful career as a doctor. She worked in different hospitals and helped start the Martlets hospice in the Brighton area. A hospice is a special place that cares for people who are very ill. She retired when she was 65.
John Murrell passed away from a serious illness called glioma on January 25, 2016. He was at a hospice in North Chailey, East Sussex. He was 83 years old. His wife and four children were still alive when he died.
Books He Wrote
John Murrell wrote several important books about chemistry:
- 1963 The theory of the electronic spectra of organic molecules. Chapman and Hall, London
- 1965 (With S. F. A. Kettle and J. M. Tedder) Valence theory. John Wiley & Sons, London
- 1972 (With A. J. Harget) Semi-empirical self-consistent-field molecular orbital theory of molecules. Wiley Interscience, London
- 1978 Chemical bond. Wiley-Blackwell
- 1982 (With E. A. Boucher) Properties of Liquids and Solutions. Wiley-Blackwell
- 1984 (With S. Carter, S. C. Farantos, P. Huxley and A. J. C. Varandas) Molecular potential energy functions. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester
- 1989 (With S. Bosanac) Introduction to the theory of atomic and molecular collisions. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
