| Authorised form of name | Cowley; Alan Herbert (1934-2020) |
| Dates | 1934-2020 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 29/01/1934 |
| Date of death | 02/08/2020 |
| Occupation | Chemist |
| Research field | Inorganic chemistry |
| Materials science |
| Activity | Education:
Russell School for Boys; University of Manchester, BSc (1955); MSc (1956); PhD (1958)
Career:
Postdoctoral Fellow, later Instructor, University of Florida (1958-1960); Technical Officer with the Exploratory Group, Imperial Chemical Industries Billingham Division (1960-1961); University of Texas at Austin, Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1962-1967); Associate Professor of Chemistry (1967-1970); Professor of Chemistry (1970-1984); George W. Watt Centennial Professor of Chemistry (1984-1988); Sir Edward Frankland Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, Imperial College London (1988-1989); Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin (1989-2015); other positions include Dalton Chemical Scholar, University of Manchester (1956-1958); Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst Fellowship (1973); Guggenheim Fellowship (1976-1977); Jeremy I. Musher Memorial Lectureship. The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (1979); Editorial Board of Inorganic Chemistry (1979-1983); Editorial Board of Chemical Reviews (1984-1988); Chairman, Gordon Research Conference on Inorganic Chemistry (1983); Board of Inorganic Syntheses (1983); Council of Gordon Research Conferences (1984-1987); Editorial Board of Polyhedron (1984-1998); Mobay Lecturer, University of New Hampshire (1985); Karcher Lecturer, University of Oklahoma (1985); Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (1986-1991);Editorial Board of the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry (1987-); American Chemical Society Committee on Divisional Activities (1987-1989); Reilly Lecturer, University of Notre Dame (1987); AFOSR Chemical Sciences Review Panel (1987-1990); Editorial Board of Organometallics (1988-1991); Editorial Board of Progress in Inorganic Chemistry (1988-); Editorial Board of Heteroatom Chemistry (1988-1996); Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences (1989-1998); Editorial Board of Advances in Inorganic Chemistry (1989 -); Irvine Lecturer, St. Andrews University, Scotland (1989); Fischel Lecturer, Vanderbilt University (1991); Frontiers of Science Lecturer, Wayne State University (1991); Executive Board of Texas Science and Mathematics, Renaissance Centers (1991-1993); Baxter Lecturer, Northern Illinois University (1992); Scientific Committee of the European Journal of Solid State and Inorganic Chemistry (1992-1998); Co-Chairman, First Gordon Research Conference on Science Education (1992); Frontiers in Materials Science Lecturer, University of Iowa (1993); Vice-Chair, Gordon Research Conferences Board of Trustees (1993); Chair, Gordon Research Conferences Board of Trustees (1994-95); Inaugural Etter Memorial Lecturer, University of Minnesota (1995); President, International Council on Main Group Chemistry (1997-98); International Advisory Board of Dalton Transactions (1997-2000); Institut Universitaire de France Professor (1999); Scientific Advisory Board of Materia, Inc. (2004); Science and Engineering Advisory Board of Orfid, Inc. (2004); International Advisory Board of the Jordanian Journal of Chemistry (2004); Gauss Professorship, Göttingen Academy of Sciences (2005); retired 2015
Memberships:
Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2004); American Chemical Society (Councillor, Division of Inorganic Chemistry 1986-1989)
Medals/Awards:
College of Natural Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence 1984; Royal Society of Chemistry Award for Main-Group Element Chemistry 1980; Centenary Medal and Lectureship, Royal Society of Chemistry 1986; Stiefvater Memorial Award and Lectureship, University of Nebraska 1987; Chemical Pioneer Award of the American Institute of Chemists 1994; von Humboldt Prize 1996; Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques awarded by the French Government 1997; Honorary Doctorate University of Bordeaux I 2003 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 17/03/1988 |
| Age at election | 54 |
| RSActivity | Committee and panels:
Sectional Committee 3, Chemistry (2015-2018) |
| PublishedWorks | https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n83217133/ |
| OtherInfo | Alan Cowley made many particularly important contributions to the chemistry of the main-group elements. His earliest work in this area was concerned with homoatomic ring and chain compounds, noteworthy achievements being the syntheses of the first three- and four-membered phosphorus and arsenic rings, respectively. His work on the static and dynamic stereochemistry of phosphorus compounds is also widely recognised and extends from mathematical formulations to experimental studies.
Subsequent work was concerned with multiply bonded compounds of the heavier main-group elements. Important contributions to this area include the syntheses of the first compounds with phosphorus–arsenic, phosphorus–antimony, and arsenic–arsenic double bonds, along with the demonstration that these and related species, such as phospha–alkenes and phosphine–imines, exhibit very interesting reaction chemistry and ligative behaviour.
Alan’s later work focused on the bis(imino)acenaphthene (BIAN) ligand with respect to its applications in catalytic, redox, and luminescent chemistry. Finally, the neglected semiconductor, boron arsenide, has been investigated from the standpoint of its photoelectrochemistry and thermal properties.
Professor Alan Cowley FRS died on 8 August 2020. |
| Source | Sources:
Royal Society profile: https://royalsociety.org/people/alan-cowley-11269/ (accessed 13 Novemebr 2020)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Cowley (accessed 13 November 2020)
University of Texas, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, http://cowley.cm.utexas.edu/acowley/Cowley.html (accessed 13 November 2020) |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/271774296 |
| Code | NA4044 |