Frederick Dainton, Baron Dainton
![]() Dainton, 1990s | |
Member of the House of Lords | |
In office 1986–1997 | |
Frederick Sydney Dainton, Baron Dainton,
A graduate of
Early life and education
Dainton was born in Sheffield on 11 November 1914, the son of George Whalley Dainton (born 1857), a Clerk of Works to a building contractor, and his second wife Mary Jane Bottrill,[2] as the youngest of nine children.[3] He obtained a scholarship to the Central Secondary School in Sheffield, but it was in the public library that he became enthused of chemistry by reading the books of
Dainton won an Exhibition at St John's College, Oxford with a supplementary grant and loan from the City of Sheffield, which enabled him to study chemistry,[3] gaining a first class degree in 1937.[4] He then moved to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he received his PhD in 1940 working on photochemistry under Ronald Norrish, FRS.[3]
Academic career
Being
In polymer chemistry he explained the thermodynamics of the ceiling temperature of depolymerizable polymers in 1948.[5]
In 1950 Dainton was appointed
In 1965 Dainton left Leeds to become
In 1970 Dainton was appointed Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford,[6] moving on in 1973 to become Chairman of the University Grants Committee where he remained until 1985.[4] In 1970 he also became the second chairman of the Council for Scientific Policy.
From 1978 until his death Dainton was Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, the first Yorkshireman to hold the post.[4]
Honours
Dainton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1957 and in 1996 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).[2] In 1972, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[7] He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1991.[8]
Dainton was awarded the
He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by the University of Bath in 1970.[10]
Dainton was
Marriage and children
Whilst at Cambridge Dainton met (and in 1942 married) a zoology research student, Barbara Hazlitt Wright (died 12 April 2009). They were married for 55 years and had a son and two daughters.[3]
Death
Lord Dainton died in Oxford on 5 December 1997 at the age of 83.[2]
Selected publications
- Science: Salvation or Damnation (1971)
- Doubts and Certainties: A Personal Memoir of the 20th Century (2000)
References
- S2CID 61318981.
- ^ ISBN 090219884X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Ivin, Ken. "Baron DAINTON OF HALLAM MOORS" (PDF). Rse.org.uk. Royal Society of Edinburgh : Obituary. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2006. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ a b c d University of Sheffield. "Dainton Papers". Shef.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- S2CID 4105548.
- ^ University of Sheffield, Dainton papers, obituary
- ^ "Frederick Sydney Dainton". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "President's medal recipients". Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
- ^ "Honorary Graduates 1966 to 1988". Bath.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 25 May 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
- ^ "No. 50438". The London Gazette. 21 February 1986. p. 2529.