David King (chemist)
St John's College, Johannesburg[1] | |
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Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand (BSc; PhD 1963) |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
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Institutions |
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Thesis | A Study Of The Ammonia Synthesis Over Vanadium Nitride, Correlated With The Structure Of The Catalyst (1963) |
Website | www |
Sir David Anthony King
King first taught at
Outside of academia, King was
Early life and education
King was born on 12 August 1939 in South Africa, son of Arnold Tom Wallis King, of Johannesburg, director of a paint company, and Patricia Mary Bede, née Vardy.
Academic career
After his PhD, King moved to the United Kingdom where he was a Shell Scholar at Imperial College, London, from 1963 to 1966.
In 1988, King was appointed 1920 Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He subsequently served as Head of the
From 2008 to 2012, King was Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford.[1] He was also a Fellow of University College, Oxford, from 2009 to 2012.[7] He was President of Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, Italy, from 2008 to 2011,[7][9] and was Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 2010 to 2013.[7][10]
Research
King has published over 500 papers on his research in chemical physics and on science and policy.[1][11]
During his time at Cambridge, King had, together with
Career outside academia
King was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Head of the Government Office for Science from October 2000 to 31 December 2007, under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.[13] In that time, he raised the profile of the need for governments to act on climate change and was instrumental in creating the £1 billion Energy Technologies Institute. In 2008 he co-authored The Hot Topic on this subject.[14]
During his tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser, he raised public awareness for climate change and initiated several foresight studies. As director of the government's Foresight Programme, he created an in-depth
In April 2008, King joined UBS, a Swiss investment bank, as senior science advisor.[7][17] He left UBS to return to the UK government when he was appointed the Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change in September 2013.[11][18]
From 2013 to 2016, King was the first chairman of the Future Cities Catapult, a government-funded body conducting research into
In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, King formed and led Independent SAGE, a committee of unpaid experts which acts as a "shadow" of the UK government's SAGE group to address concerns of lack of transparency and political influence on that body.[21]
Views
Climate change
In his role as scientific advisor to the UK government King was outspoken on the subject of climate change, saying "I see climate change as the greatest challenges facing Britain and the World in the 21st century" [22] and "climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today – more serious even than the threat of terrorism".[23][24]
He strongly supports the work of the IPCC, saying in 2004 that the 2001 synthesis report "is the best current statement on the state of play of the science of climate change, and that really does represent 1,000 scientists".[25]
King criticised the Bush administration for what he saw as its failures in climate change policy, saying it is "failing to take up the challenge of global warming".[26]
In 2004, King gave evidence to a House of Commons
King became head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group in 2021, basing public meetings on a similar format to Independent SAGE, and publishing reports advising emission cuts and carbon dioxide removal.[31]
Food production
King told The Independent newspaper in February 2007 "he agreed that organic food was no safer than chemically-treated food" and openly supported a study by the
In an article published in The Guardian in February 2009, King is quoted as saying that "future historians might look back on our particular recent past and see the Iraq war as the first of the conflicts of this kind – the first of the resource wars" and that this was "certainly the view" (that the invasion was motivated by a desire to secure energy supplies) he held at the time of the invasion, along with "quite a few people in government".[32]
Energy
King is a strong supporter of
King is a member of the Global Apollo Programme and headed its public launch in 2015. The programme calls for multinational research into reducing the cost of low-carbon electricity generation.
Humanism
King is a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK.[37]
Covid response
In July 2020 King advocated for school closures in the UK until covid cases were reduced to 1 in a million.[38]
Honours and awards
King was
In 1991 he received the BVC Medal and Prize, awarded by
In media
King appears in the film
Personal life
By his first marriage, which ended in divorce, King has two sons. In 1983, he married, secondly, charity administrator and former head of a commercial law team,[42] Jane Margaret, daughter of general practitioner Hans Eugen Lichtenstein, OBE,[43] of Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Wales, a Holocaust survivor from a family that owned leather goods shops and an umbrella factory in Berlin. They have a son and a daughter.[44][45]
Books published
- Sir David King, Gabrielle Walker, The Hot Topic: how to tackle global warming and still keep the lights on, Bloomsbury London 2008 [46]
- Oliver Inderwildi, Sir David King, Energy, Transport & the Environment, 2012, Springer London New York Heidelberg [47]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U23112. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b "List of Fellows". Royal Academy of Engineering. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.
- ^ People of Today, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2006, p. 912
- ^ The International Who's Who 1992-3, Europa Publications, 1992, p. 869
- ^ Beerman's Financial Year Book of Southern Africa- Investors' Manual and Cyclopaedia of South African Public Companies 1973, Combined Publishers, p. 429
- ^ Who's Who of Southern Africa, Argus Printing and Publishing Co., 2003, p. 170
- ^ Who's Who 2021. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2020.
- .
- ^ "Collegio Aperto: Sir David King". Collegio Carlo Alberto. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ "Home - News - University of Liverpool". liv.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Sir David King". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ Highfield, Roger (11 October 2007). "Nobel prize for superficial work" – via telegraph.co.uk.
- PMID 15254529.
- ISBN 978-0747593959.
- S2CID 32777266.
- PMID 17943108.
- ^ Reuters Editorial. "UBS hires former UK chief science adviser". U.K. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
{{cite news}}
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has generic name (help) - ^ "Foreign Secretary's new Special Representative for Climate Change - GOV.UK". gov.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ "Multi-million pound future cities catapult to be hosted in London". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
- ^ "Future Cities - Professor Sir David King - People". Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
- ^ Stone, Jon (3 May 2020). "Top scientists set up 'shadow' SAGE committee to advise government amid concerns over political interference". The Independent. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ "The Challenge of Climate Change by Sir David King". Archived from the original on 5 August 2004. Retrieved 13 October 2004.
- ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the originalon 17 December 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ "Global warming 'biggest threat'". 2004. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ Commons, The Committee Office, House of. "House of Commons - Environmental Audit - Minutes of Evidence". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Global warming 'biggest threat'". 2004. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ Environmental Audit Select Committee (30 March 2004). "Minutes of Evidence". House of Commons. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Ofcom (21 July 2008). "Ofcom Broadcast Bulletin 114" (PDF). Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Lean, Geoffrey (2 May 2004). "Why Antarctica will soon be the only place to live-literally". The Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Adam, David (21 July 2008). "Global warming documentary: The Ofcom report at a glance". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Edie (21 June 2021). "Climate Crisis Advisory Group: New body launches, modelled after British scientists' Covid-19 initiative". Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ "A low carbon nuclear future: Economic assessment of nuclear materials and spent nuclear fuel management in the UK : Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment". Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- .
- doi:10.1039/b822951c.
- ^ "Distinguished supporters of Humanism Richard Norman and Colin Blakemore support H4BW". Humanists UK. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ "Independent SAGE - 14.07.20". YouTube.
- London Gazette. 15 August 2003. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ "David King". Royal Society. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
- ^ "The Trick". Radio Times. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ "Jane Lichtenstein:'I wasn't trying to escape'". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ "Order of the British Empire, Civil". the Guardian. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ^ "People of Today", Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2006, p. 912
- ^ Lichtenstein, Jonathan (2 April 2019). "Hans Lichtenstein obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-7475-9630-1.
- ^ Energy, Transport, & the Environment - Addressing the | Oliver Inderwildi | Springer.
Biographical links
- David King interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 27 November 2009 (video)
- Sir David King at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford
- Sir David King at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
- BBC's biography of Sir David King
- David King's article on climate change at www.chinadialogue.net Archived 13 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- 'Profile: Professor Sir David King' by Alison Benjamin, The Guardian, 27 November 2007.
- Sir David King: Building a Sustainable Future Lecture presented at the Royal Institute of British Architecture 2007 (Video)