© Copyright 1997 by the American Chemical Society
VOLUME 101, NUMBER 48, NOVEMBER 27, 1997
Courtesy of JET Photographers, Cambridge, UK
John Meurig Thomas Biography John Meurig Thomas was born in South Wales and took his initial degree in the University of Wales, Swansea, before proceeding to Queen Mary College, London, to complete his Ph.D. For 20 years he taught and researched in the University of Wales, first at Bangor where he began as an Assistant Lecturer in 1958 and later as Professor and Head of Chemistry in Aberystwyth (1969-1978). Called to the University of Cambridge to succeed Jack Linnett in 1978, he headed the S1089-5647(97)00902-4 CCC: $14.00
Department of Physical Chemistry and was Professorial Fellow of King’s College for 9 years before his appointment as Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and Head of the Davy Faraday Laboratory in London, where he continues his research. From 1991 to 1994 he served as Deputy Pro-Chancellor of the University of Wales. In 1993 he was elected Master of Peterhouse, University of Cambridge, the first scientist in its 710-year history. © 1997 American Chemical Society
9846 J. Phys. Chem. B, Vol. 101, No. 48, 1997 John Meurig Thomas is internationally acknowledged as a pioneer of modern solid-state chemistry and of materials science of condensed matter. His work is distinguished for its wide range and innovative quality. His research group has designed, synthesized, and characterized numerous new heterogeneous catalysts including aluminosilicates, complex oxides, and metallic alloys of colloidal dimension. He has developed and adapted a wide range of techniques for the study of solids and their surfaces and, in so doing, has discovered several new structural types and solved some hitherto intractable structures. His work has led to major advances in the science and technology of zeolites, clays, and their new analogues as adsorbents and catalysts. From his novel use of high-resolution electron microscopy, electron-energy loss spectroscopy, neutron scattering, magic angle spinning NMR, in situ X-ray diffraction, and combined in situ time-resolved X-ray absorption and X-ray diffraction has come a deeper understanding of the internal structure and properties of numerous classes of solids, especially zeolites and microporous metal-aluminophosphates. He has recently produced new microporous and layered solids processing unusual properties. In particular, he has designed and synthesized several novel microcrystalline acid catalysts and has evolved new methods, combining high-resolution electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and computational techniques, for solving their structures. At Bangor he began his pioneering studies in solid-state chemistry and the materials science of condensed matter. In particular, he explored the chemical consequences of dislocations and other structural imperfections in crystals, developed new techniquessoptical and electron microscopy, time-lapse microcinematography, etch decoration, electrical resistance, spacecharge-limited current, and conductivity-glow measurementssto investigate the etching and reactivity of minerals (graphite, molybdenite, and calcite) and the excitonic behavior of molecular crystals such as anthracene, rotator-phase solids, and protonic conductors. At Aberystwyth he established one of the world’s leading groups in solid-state chemistry and the surface chemistry of solids. He introduced (along with J. S. Anderson, who joined him from Oxford upon his retirement as head of the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory) high-resolution electron microscopy as an indispensable tool for (real-space) structural elucidation of subpicogram quantities of a wide range of minerals and developed analytical electron microscopy (using electronstimulated X-ray emission) to determine local composition and nonstoichiometry with nanometer electron probes. At Aberystwyth he also discovered many organic reactions that are catalyzed in the interlamellar regions of a range of clay minerals as well as the existence of incommensurate structures in intercalates and provided the first direct proof of the existence of staging in the phenomenon of intercalation. His group also developed new techniques such as photoelectron diffraction, conversion-electron Mossbauer spectroscopy, dynamic highresolution electron microscopy, and photo- and electroluminescence to elucidate a range of solid-state and surface phenomena. At Cambridge, he added extensively to the armory of techniques now routinely used by solid-state, surface, and materials chemists: electron-energy loss and plasmon-loss spectroscopy, magic-angle-spinning NMR, computer modeling, and neutron scattering allied to Rietveld profile refinement. Significant breaktrhoughs were also made in “crystal engineering” stemming from his earlier work in topochemistry, and major advances were made in the science and technology of zeolites through ultrahigh-resolution electron microscopy (now a standard technique for solving the structure of new mi-
croporous catalysts and adsorbents), and, through 29Si and 27Al MAS NMR, in understanding Si,Al ordering in clay minerals, sialons, cordierite, synthetic zeolites, and amorphous solids. His work on in situ studies of intercalation and intermellar catalysis led to his concentration on X-ray-based methods of probing structural changes in heterogeneous catalysts under operating conditions, a major theme of his work at the Royal Institution (RI) since 1986. The synthesis, characterization, regeneration, and analysis of catalytic performance of a wide range of catalysts, encompassing solid acids, complex oxides, and metallic alloys of colloidal dimensionsentailing the deployment of sophisticated (rotatinganode) X-ray and FTIR facilitiesshas been the major theme of his work for the past decade. Dozens of new catalysts, including potentially commercial ones for methanol-to-olefin conversions, butene isomerization, alkene epoxidations, and selective oxidation of alkanes, have been synthesized by his team. John Meurig Thomas has always been enthusiastic in exploiting new techniques, including computational chemistry which is increasingly contributing to the rational design of new solid acid catalysts. The success of this work has been demonstrated in the creation of the novel catalyst DAF-4 (Davy Faraday number 4), a shape-selective cobalt aluminophosphate catalyst that converts methanol preferentially into ethene and propene. DAF-5, recently synthesized (December 1996) by such computational guidance, is currently undergoing catalytic tests. In addition to these achievements in research, Prof. Thomas has contributed to popularizing and presenting science to the public including, in collaboration with Prof. David Phillips, a series of the celebrated Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on Crystals and Lasers and his book on Michael Faraday, Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution (The Genius of Man and Place). Indeed, John Meurig Thomas has inspired generations of undergraduates, graduates, and postdoctoral researchers with his passion and enthusiasm for science. He is a coruscating and articulate lecturer, whose elegant use of language and analogy adds color and vivacity to his presentations. And we are astonished, too, by his remarkable photographic memory, whether it be for scientific facts, faces, or after dinner stories! His wide-ranging knowledge of both science and the arts is perhaps best captured in the titles of some of his papers and lectures: “The Poetry of Science”, “To See the World in a Grain of Sand”, and “The Architecture of the Invisible”. Prof. Thomas has received many honors. He was awarded the Bakerian Prize Lectureship in 1990 (the Royal Society’s premier lecture in the physical sciences); the Davy Medal in 1994 of the Royal Society (its premier medal for chemistry); the Willard Gibbs Gold Medal, American Chemical Society, in 1995; the Longstaff Medal in 1996 (awarded triennially since 1881 to the member of the Royal Society of Chemistry who has advanced the subject most by research); the Messel Gold Medal in 1992 (awarded every 2 years by the Society of Chemical Industry for meritorious distinction in science, literature, industry, or public affairs); the Faraday Medal in 1989 (the senior medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry awarded every 3 years); the Hugo Mu¨ller Medal in 1983, the Solid State Chemistry Silver Medal in 1978, the Tilden Medal in 1973, and the Corday Morgan Medal in 1969, all from the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was the first recipient of Pettinos Prize in 1969, of the American Carbon Society. In 1989 he was awarded the Bruce-Preller Prize Lectureship, Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was the recipient of Honorary Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw in 1996; the van’t Hoff Memorial Lecturer in 1988, Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and
J. Phys. Chem. B, Vol. 101, No. 48, 1997 9847 Sciences, Amsterdam; the Kenneth Pitzer Lecturer (first) in 1988, University of California, Berkeley; the Sir Joseph Larmor Lecturer in 1992, Cambridge Philosophical Society; the Earnest Watson Centennial Lecturer in 1991, California Institute of Technology; the Gerhardt Schmidt Lecture, Weizmann Institute of Science in 1979; 3M Lecturer, University of Western Ontario in 1983; the Baker Lecturer in 1982-83, Cornell University; the Hund-Klemm Lecturer in 1987, Max Planck Institute, Stuttgart; Invited Speaker (Japan Key Technology Centre) to honor 6 years of reign of the Emperor in 1986. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977 and Honorary Fellow or Honorary Foreign Member of the Indian Academy (Bangalore, 1981), Indian National Academy (New
Delhi, 1985), Academia Europaea (1989), Sesquicentenary Honorary Fellow, Royal Microscopical Society (1989), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1990), Engineering Academy of Japan (1991), Royal Society of Edinburgh (1993), American Philosophical Society (1993), Russian Academy of Sciences (1994), Venezuelan Academy of Sciences (1994), and Third World Academy of Sciences (Trieste, 1995). He is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from 12 British, Canadian, Dutch, French, and Spanish universities and of numerous honorary fellowships or professorships from other universities. He was awarded Honorary Bencher, Gray’s Inn in 1987, and was Knighted, Queen’s Birthday Honors in 1991, for services to chemistry and the popularization of science.
Richard Catlow Anthony K. Cheetham
