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Sir Ian Heilbron DSO FRS (6 November 1886 – 14 September 1959) was a Scottish chemist, who pioneered organic chemistry developed for therapeutic and industrial use.

Early life and education

Isidor Morris Heilbron was born in Glasgow on 6 November 1886 to a wine merchant (David Heilbron) and his wife (Fanny Jessel). He was Jewish.

He was educated at Glasgow High School and then the Royal Technical College with G. G. Henderson. Following an award of a Carnegie Fellowship he went to the University of Leipzig to study under Arthur Rudolf Hantzsch for his doctoral thesis (1907–1910).

He was awarded a Ph.D. He received a D.Sc. at the University of Glasgow in 1918 for his 'Contribution to the Study of Semi-carbazones' and other papers.

Military service

He served in the Royal Army Service Corps (1910–1920). He was awarded a Distinguished Service Order in 1918 for distinguished service related to operations in Salonika. He was also appointed an Officer of the Order of the Redeemer by the Greek government. He achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel, Assistant Director of Supplies.

During the Second World War from 1939 to 1942 he worked as a scientific advisor to the Department of Scientific Research in the Ministry of Supply. After 1942 he became a scientific advisor to the Ministry of Production.

Career

His independent research career focused on the chemistry of natural products, including work on sterols, vitamin D, vitamin A, polyene synthesis, Squalene, terpenes, pyrylium salts, algal pigments, and spiropyrans. He was also instrumental in the development of DDT to fight malaria and yellow fever. Heilbron, with Arthur Herbert Cook, also studied the synthesis and structure of penicillin.

Appointments

• Lecturer, Royal Technical College, 1909–14
• Scientist, later consultant at British Dyestuffs Corp. (later renamed Imperial Chemical Industries)
• Professor of organic chemistry, Royal Technical College, 1919–20
• Professor, University of Liverpool, 1920–33 (Heath Harrison Chair of Organic Chemistry)
• Professor, University of Manchester, 1933-8 (Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry, 1935-8)
• Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director of the Laboratories, Imperial College, 1938–49
• 1949: Retired from academic research
• Director, Brewing Industry Research Foundation, 1949–58
• Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Royal Military College of Science
• International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry
• Editor-in-chief of the “Dictionary of Organic Compounds” and
• Chairman of the editorial board of “Thorpe’s Dictionary of Applied Chemistry.”

Notable trainees

Source:

While at University of Liverpool

• Frank Stuart Spring, graduate student (1930)

While at University of Manchester

• Basil Lythgoe, graduate student, (1936)
• Ewart Ray Herbert Jones, post-doc (1938)

While at Imperial College

• Stanley H. Harper, graduate student (1937)
• Derek Harold Richard Barton, graduate student (1942)
• Basil Weedon, graduate student, (1942)
• Ralph Alexander Raphael, graduate student (1943)
• Ernest A. R. Braude, graduate student (1944)
• John Arthur Elvidge, graduate student (1947)
• Franz Sondheimer, graduate student (1948)
• Marc Julia, graduate student (1948)

While at Imperial Chemical Industries

• Alan Woodworth Johnson, research scientist (1946)

Notable collaborators

While at University of Liverpool

• Richard Alan Morton

Awards and honours

• 1911: Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry (F.I.C.)
• 1931: Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
• 1939: Longstaff Medal of the Chemical Society of London
• 1943: Davy Medal from the Royal Society "In recognition of his many notable contributions to organic chemistry, especially to the chemistry of natural products of physiological importance"
• 1945: The American Chemical Society honored him with its highest prize, the Priestley Medal. This was the first time the award went to a non-American.
• 1946: In recognition of his work during war he was appointed a Knight Bachelor
• 1951: Royal Medal from the Royal Society

References

1. ^ Cook, A. H. (1960). "Ian Morris Heilbron. 1886–1959". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 6: 65–85. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1960.0025. ISSN 0080-4606.
2. Alan Cook (2004). "Heilbron, Sir Ian Morris ". In Watson, K. D (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33799. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Profile of Ian Heilbron Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
4. "On This Day – Nov 06 : Ian Heilbron was born". RSC Education. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
5. "HEILBRON, Sir Ian Morris". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 1920–2015 (2015 ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 25 January 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6. ^ "University of Glasgow :: Story : Biography of Lieutenant Colonel Isidore Morris Heilbron". universitystory.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
7. Rubinstein, W. D.; Jolles, Michael; Rubinstein, Hilary L., eds. (2011). The Palgrave dictionary of Anglo-Jewish history. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 410. ISBN 978-0-230-30466-6. OCLC 793104984.
8. Levy, A. (1955). "The Origins of Scottish Jewry". Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England). 19: 129–162. ISSN 2047-2331. JSTOR 29777950.
9. ^ "Chemical & Engineering News: The Priestly Medal – 1945: Ian Morris Heilbron (1886–1959)". pubsapp.acs.org. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
10. ^ "Isador M. Heilbron (1881–)". Journal of Chemical Education. 17 (2): 51. 1 February 1940. Bibcode:1940JChEd..17...51.. doi:10.1021/ed017p51. ISSN 0021-9584.
11. Heilbron, I. M. (1945). "The New Insecticidal Material DDT". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 93 (4682): 65–71. ISSN 0035-9114. JSTOR 41361779.
12. Billimoria, J. D.; Cook, A. H.; Heilbron, Ian (1949). "307. Studies in the azole series. Part XVI. Synthesis of a new analogue of penicillamine". Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed): 1437–1440. doi:10.1039/jr9490001437. ISSN 0368-1769.
13. "Chemistry Tree – Ian (Isidore) Morris Heilbron Family Tree". academictree.org. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
14. Gay, Hannah (2016). The Chemistry Department at Imperial College, London : a history, 1845–2000. Griffith, W. P. (William Pettitt), 1936–. New Jersey. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-78326-974-7. OCLC 965146304.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
15. Goodwin, T W (1977). "R. A. Morton". Nature. 266 (5600): 394. Bibcode:1977Natur.266..394G. doi:10.1038/266394a0. S2CID 31211784.

• 1959 deaths
• 1886 births
• British chemists
• Fellows of the Royal Society
• Royal Army Service Corps officers
• Knights Bachelor
• Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
• People educated at the High School of Glasgow
• Academics of the University of Liverpool
• Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester
• Academics of Imperial College London
• British Army personnel of World War I
• Royal Medal winners
• Scientists from Glasgow
• Jewish chemists
• Jewish British scientists