THE QUADRANGLE Emeritus Professor Robin Clark gifts papers to College
Christ’s College has been gifted 10 bound volumes of published papers by Old Boy and esteemed international scientist Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at University College, London, Professor Robin J H Clark.
After a stellar career in Chemistry which began in the classroom at College, Professor Clark went to the University of Canterbury and then to the UK in 1958 to study chemistry at UCL. He joined the academic staff in 1962, rose to become Dean of Science, and then for 20 years was the Sir William Ramsay Professor of Chemistry. Along the way he lectured in 36 countries and acted as visiting professor in many universities. His lifelong friend and contemporary at College, Colin Averill this week presented Executive Principal Garth Wynne with the bound volumes of more than 500 articles. They will become part of the Harris Collection of Old Boy publications and be held in the College library.
“Robin was my exact contemporary at CC (5742) and we have remained friends ever since. He was always grateful to his excellent chemistry teacher, Russ Hounsell, in the 6th Form at College in 1951–52, for launching him into a scientific career, and this is his way of repaying that.” Colin Averill remembers Robin as “very bright” and was not surprised he had forged such a brilliant career and become a world authority on titanium. “He won every prize in every subject at school. The only one he didn’t was Latin, and that’s because he didn’t take it!” Colin Averill hopes he may convince Robin Clark to attend the 70th
reunion of their year group next year. Professor Clark’s research in transition metal chemistry, mixed valence chemistry, metal-metal bonding and spectroscopy, remains very active. In particular, he has made major contributions to most aspects of Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy, recently pioneering the application of these and other techniques to the characterisation of pigments in artwork and archaeology, a matter of wide international interest. In turn, he has been awarded countless honours, including Fellowships of the Royal Society of Chemistry
and Royal Society of Arts, and an honorary Doctor of Science (Canterbury).
College Issue 35 2018
101
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker