Peter Pauson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Prof Peter Ludwig Israel Pauson

FRIC (1925–2013) was a German–Jewish emigrant who settled in Britain and who is remembered for his contributions to chemistry, most notably the Pauson–Khand reaction[1] and as joint discoverer of ferrocene.[2]

Life

He was born in Bamberg, Germany on 30 July 1925, the son of Stefan Pauson and his wife, Helene Dorothea Herzfelder.[3] His parents escaped to England in 1939 with Peter and his two sisters to flee the Nazi persecution of Jews.[4]

In 1942 the family moved to

Sheffield University as a postgraduate, studying under Robert Downs Haworth and receiving his doctorate in 1949. He then went to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and pursued research on tropolones and other aromatic non-benzenoid molecules. His discovery of ferrocene with his student, Thomas J. Kealy, arose from an attempt to dimerize cyclopentadienylmagnesium bromide using Iron(III) chloride; the orange-yellow solid with formula C10H10Fe was described as a "molecular sandwich" in Pauson's note which was published in Nature in 1951.[5]

From 1951 to 1952 he studied at the

Strathclyde University. In 1964 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[6]

Pauson and his postdoctoral assistant, Ihsan Khand, discovered the reaction now renowned as the Pauson–Khand reaction in 1971, though Pauson always referred to it as the "Khand reaction".[5]

In 1994, the University of Strathclyde established the Merck Pauson Chair in Preparative Chemistry, funded by Merck, marking the contribution of Pauson to chemistry and to the university.[7]

Pauson retired in 1995 and died peacefully at home on 10 December 2013. He was cremated at Clydebank Crematorium.[8] In his obituary, he is described as "a gentleman of modesty, humility, and compassion … a fine man and a marvellous scientist".[5]

Family

He married Lai-Ngau Mary (née Wong) (1928 – March 18, 2010),[9] having met her at a party hosted by Enrico Fermi when Pauson was at the University of Chicago in the early 1950s.[5] They went on to have two children, Hilary and Alfred.[10]

Selected publications

References

  1. doi:10.1016/S0040-4020(01)91424-3
    .
  2. ^ "Peter Ludwig Pauson (1925-2013) | Request PDF". researchgate.net. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Peter Ludwig Pauson (1925 - 2013) - Genealogy". geni.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Diese Seite wurde zuletzt bearbeitet am". juden-in-bamberg.de. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d William Kerr (2014). "Peter Pauson (1925–2013)". Chemistry World. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  6. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  7. ^ "University of Strathclyde". Display Advertising. The Times. No. 64907. London. 21 March 1994. p. 36. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Peter PAUSON Obituary". Legacy.com. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Lai-Ngau Mary Pauson (Wong) (1928 - 2010) - Genealogy". geni.com. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Pauson - Lai-Ngau (Mary) : Obituary : Herald". legacy-ia.com. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Pauson&oldid=1217695166"