| 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 |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1981; Davy Medal 1996 |
| Relationships | Married (1951) Lise Solver, daughter of Professor Svend Aage Schou |
| Published works | With FA Cotton 'Advanced Inorganic Chemistry' 1962; Editor, 'Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry' 1982 , 9 volumes; 'Supplement to Comprehensive Organometallic Chemistry' 1995, 14 volumes |
| Sources | 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 |
| Royal Society code | NA3636 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | 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 |