| RefNo | EC/1983/13 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXI, 101 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Gray, George William: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1981 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Distinguished for his contributions to liquid crystal chemistry, and for the invention of materials used world-wide in liquid crystal displays. Professor Gray's research on liquid crystals began in 1951, and during the next twenty years he made many contributions to our understanding of the relationship between chemical constitution and liquid crystal behaviour. This research, academic while liquid crystals had no commercial interest, led directly in 1971 to his invention of the cyano-biphenyls and terphenyls, a range of stable room-temperature smectic, nematic, and cholesteric liquid crystals. These materials gave the first reliable, long-lived liquid crystal displays, and they are now used in most electronic watches and calculators. Such materials are also invaluable for incisive physical studies of the liquid crystal state. Professor Gray's research gave the UK more than half of the expanding world market in liquid crystal materials, and this was recognised by the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement and the Rank Prize for contributions to structural and theoretical liquid crystal chemistry generally, and more particularly, to smectic polymorphic systems.
His recent synthesis of bicyclo-octane esters, coupled with his studies of their liquid crystal properties has shown that the simple and long-accepted theory of the nematic state is inadequate. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA201 | Gray; George William (1926 - 2013) | 1926 - 2013 |