George William Gray
George William Gray (born September 4, 1926 in Denny , Scotland ; † May 13, 2013 ) was a British chemist who made important contributions to the material science of liquid crystals . He was a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Hull .
Career
Gray studied at the University of Glasgow (Bachelor in 1946) and the University of London , where he received his doctorate in 1953. He then went to the University of Hull, where he became Senior Lecturer in 1960 and Professor in 1978 and retired in 1990.
In collaboration with the Royal Radar Establishment, he discovered liquid crystals made of cyano-biphenyl in 1973, which were in a stable nematic phase at room temperature and were later suitable for LCDs .
He was a Fellow of the Royal Society (1983) and Commander of the British Empire (CBE, 1991). In 1995 he received the Kyoto Prize and in 1987 he received the Leverhulme Medal of the Royal Society . He was president of the International Liquid Crystals Society. In his honor, the British Liquid Crystals Society awards the George W. Gray Medal. In 1993 and 1994 he received the Gold Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry and in 1979 and 1992 Queen's Awards.
Fonts
- Molecular structure and properties of liquid crystals , Academic Press 1962
- with K. Harrison, J. Nash New Family of Nematic Liquid Crystals for Displays , Electron. Letters, 9, 1976
- with A. Mosley A Liquid Crystal Mixture for Use in Smectic Liquid Crystal Display Devices , J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 147, 1979
- with JWG Goodby Smectic liquid crystals: textures and structures , Glasgow 1984
- Editor: Liquid crystals and plastic crystals , 2 volumes, Chichester, Horwood 1974
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gray, George William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 4, 1926 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Denny (Scotland) |
| DATE OF DEATH | 13th of May 2013 |