John Murrell FRS | |
|---|---|
 John Norman Murrell | |
| Born | (1932-03-02)2 March 1932 Brixton, England |
| Died | 25 January 2016(2016-01-25) (aged 83) North Chailey, England |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Known for |
|
| Spouse | (Dorothy) Shirley Read |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical chemistry |
| Institutions | |
John Norman MurrellFRS (2 March 1932 – 25 January 2016) was a British theoretical chemist who played a leading role in revolutionising the UK's reputation for theoretical chemistry during the second half of the 20th century.
Murrell was born inBrixton on 2 March 1932. His father, George Victor Murrell, was a salesman and bakery manager, and his mother was Winifred Edith née Walker.
At the start of WWII, the family moved toReigate, where Murrell attendedReigate Grammar School from 1943. In 1950 he was offered a place atKing's College London (KCL) to study chemistry. He gained a BSc with First Class Honours in 1953. He then started a Ph.D. in physics at KCL with ProfessorChristopher Longuet-Higgins, who soon afterward, was appointed to the Chair of Theoretical Chemistry at theUniversity of Cambridge. Murrell joined him as a graduate student atCorpus Christi College, Cambridge,[1] and completed his Ph.D. in 1956.
Murrell won aCommonwealth Fund Fellowship to work inRobert S. Mulliken's group at theUniversity of Chicago. He published an influential paper on molecular charge transfer in donor–acceptor pairs.[2] In September 1957, he returned to Corpus Christi and branched out into applications of molecular orbital theory, collaborating variously withEdgar Heilbronner, visiting fromZürich,Alan R. Katritzky, andNorman Sheppard.
In 1960 Murrell was enticed to theUniversity of Sheffield byGeorge Porter. He worked hard to set up his research group and, by the start of his second year at Sheffield, had five Ph.D. students and two postdoctoral associates. During his time at Sheffield, Murrell had two sabbaticals: one atTallahassee, Florida and the other inParis with Heilbronner. He was awarded the Chemical Society'sMeldola Medal and a John Jaffe Research Fellowship of the Royal Society during this period. He was elected a fellow of theRoyal Society in 1991.[3]
Later that decade, Murrell was appointed to the new chair of Theoretical Chemistry atSussex. He moved there in 1965. Two years later, he was instrumental in the appointment ofHarry Kroto,[4] whom he had known at Sheffield, to a lectureship in chemical physics. Murrell retired to become an emeritus professor in 1997; he "maintained an active interest in chemistry regularly working in the University and helping students until a few months before his death."[5]
The John Murrell Fund was set up upon his death in 2016 to support Sussex Chemistry Ph.D. students facing financial difficulties.[6]
Murrell met (Dorothy) Shirley Read at a dance while both were undergraduates; Shirley was studying medicine. They married inFarnborough in 1954. In the 1960s, they had two sons and two daughters, all born in different places: Catharine (Cambridge), Luke (Sheffield), Ruth (Florida), and Adrian John (Sussex).
Shirley forged her career during all of the family moves. She was, for example, a house officer inWisbech and held a position in the radiotherapy department atAddenbrooke's Hospital. A major achievement was to establish the Martlets hospice in theBrighton area. She retired at 65.
John Murrell died ofglioma at St Peter and St James Hospice inNorth Chailey, East Sussex, on 25 January 2016. He was survived by his wife and their four children.[1]
