Record

Authorised form of name	Wilkinson; Sir; Geoffrey (1921 - 1996)
Dates	1921 - 1996
Place of birth	Springside, near Todmorden, West Yorkshire
Date of birth	14/07/1921
Date of death	26/09/1996
Research field	Chemistry
Activity	Education: Won County Scholarship (1932) to Todmorden Secondary School; obtained a Royal Scholarship (1939) for study at Imperial College London (1939-1941) Ph.D Imperial College under HVA Briscoe, the only Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in Briatin. Career; Recruited for nuclear energy project by Paneth in 1942; sent to Canade (1943) and remained in Montreal and later Chalk River Ontario, until 1946. Then joined Glenn T Seaborg's research group at the University of California at Berkeley, becoming the first non-American to be cleared by the US Atomic Energy Commission for work at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Moved (1950) to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study metal complexes such as carbonyls and olefin complexes. Accepted Assistant Professorship at Harvard (1951-1955) Appointed to chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Imperial College London (1956-1995) which was later re-named the Sir Edward Frankland Chair of Inorganic Chemistry to commemorate Frankland who was at the College from 1865. Here Wilkinson worked almost entirely on the complexes of transition metals, having a major influence on the subject through a number of large-scale publications. Medals and prizes: Nobel Prize (Chemistry) 1973 Honours: Kt 1976
Membership category	Fellow
Date of election	18/03/1965
Age at election	43
RSActivity	Medals and prizes: Royal Medal 1981; Davy Medal 1996
Relationships	Married (1951) Lise Solver, daughter of Professor Svend Aage Schou
PublishedWorks	With FA Cotton 'Advanced Inorganic Chemistry' 1962; Editor, 'Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry' 1982 , 9 volumes; 'Supplement to Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry' 1995, 14 volumes
Source	Obituaries: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2000 vol 46 pp 593-606, plate, by M L H Green and W P Griffith AssocMaterial: NCUACS 110/9/02 Papers deposited College Archives, Imperial College London
Virtual International Authority File	http://viaf.org/viaf/108514271
Code	NA3636

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
IM/004916	Wilkinson, Sir Geoffrey	nd
HWT/24/6/26	Correspondence and papers regarding exchanges and non observance by USSR of International Copyright Conventions	May 1971
IM/GA/WRS/9368	Wilkinson, Sir Geoffrey	nd
EC/1965/32	Wilkinson, Geoffrey: certificate of election to the Royal Society
HWT/24/6/28	Correspondence and papers regarding exchanges, joint projects and non observance by USSR of International Copyright Conventions	July - August 1971
HWT/24/6/29	Correspondence and papers regarding exchanges, non observance by USSR of International Copyright Conventions and death of J D Bernal	September - October 1971
HWT/33/12	H W Thompson's personal correspondence as Foreign Secretary	April - August 1971

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