- Email: [email protected]
In memorium
102
Professor G . D . Parfitt, D .Sc., F .R .S .C., C. Chem .
1 03
In Memorium The untimely death of Geoffrey Derek Parfitt, which occurred on holiday in Colorado on 7 July 1985 at the age of 56 years, has removed an active and enthusiastic worker from the field of Colloid Science . Geoffrey Parfitt was born on 18 November 1928 in Radstock, England, and after Crewkerne School and 3 years as a radar mechanic in the R .A.F ., he entered the Honours Chemistry School at Bristol University, graduating B .Sc .Hons . in 1952 and Ph .D . in 1955 . His Ph .D . work was on Organic Semiconductors with the present writer, and there followed a post-doctoral year at Indiana University on diffusion in inorganic solids . In 1956 the writer, now at Nottingham University, received a special grant from I .C .I. to develop teaching and research in Colloid Science, which was to include work on the neglected field of non-aqueous dispersions . Parfitt accepted an invitation to help with this programme, and there ensued a very productive 13 years, during which he supervised some twenty-eight Ph .D . students and two M .S.s, and published 100 papers . For this work he received the D.Sc. (Bristol) in 1969. In that year he left Nottingham to become Assistant R . and D . Manager at Tioxide International, becoming R . and D . Manager of their Central Laboratories for the period 1976 - 1979 . During this period he held a Visiting Professorship at Brunel University, and was also very active in the organisation of meetings and journals, including Powder Technology . One remembers particularly his first effort, the Euchem Conference at Portmeirion in 1968, when Deryagin expounded his `anomalous water' . In 1980, after a short Visiting Professorship at the University of California at Berkeley, Parfitt joined Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, U .S .A ., as a Professor of Chemical Engineering . He once again became active in academic life, and served on the boards of the Journal of Colloid Science and Langmuir . Parfitt travelled widely, lecturing on his subject, in latter years with increasing emphasis on titanium dioxide . He organised three successful Faraday Society Discussions . In addition to his papers, he was author or part-author of seven books . Parfitt's logical and systematic approach to experimental work and his capacity for hard work enabled him to make substantial progress with several complex colloidal problems . His best work was probably that on adsorption at the solid-liquid interface . In 1955 he married Sheila Britton, a Bristol Ph .D . in Organic Chemistry . They have three children, and he is survived by them, and by his mother, with whom we commiserate in their sad loss . Daniel D . Eley
Professor G . D . Parfitt, D .Sc., F .R .S .C., C. Chem .
1 03
In Memorium The untimely death of Geoffrey Derek Parfitt, which occurred on holiday in Colorado on 7 July 1985 at the age of 56 years, has removed an active and enthusiastic worker from the field of Colloid Science . Geoffrey Parfitt was born on 18 November 1928 in Radstock, England, and after Crewkerne School and 3 years as a radar mechanic in the R .A.F ., he entered the Honours Chemistry School at Bristol University, graduating B .Sc .Hons . in 1952 and Ph .D . in 1955 . His Ph .D . work was on Organic Semiconductors with the present writer, and there followed a post-doctoral year at Indiana University on diffusion in inorganic solids . In 1956 the writer, now at Nottingham University, received a special grant from I .C .I. to develop teaching and research in Colloid Science, which was to include work on the neglected field of non-aqueous dispersions . Parfitt accepted an invitation to help with this programme, and there ensued a very productive 13 years, during which he supervised some twenty-eight Ph .D . students and two M .S.s, and published 100 papers . For this work he received the D.Sc. (Bristol) in 1969. In that year he left Nottingham to become Assistant R . and D . Manager at Tioxide International, becoming R . and D . Manager of their Central Laboratories for the period 1976 - 1979 . During this period he held a Visiting Professorship at Brunel University, and was also very active in the organisation of meetings and journals, including Powder Technology . One remembers particularly his first effort, the Euchem Conference at Portmeirion in 1968, when Deryagin expounded his `anomalous water' . In 1980, after a short Visiting Professorship at the University of California at Berkeley, Parfitt joined Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, U .S .A ., as a Professor of Chemical Engineering . He once again became active in academic life, and served on the boards of the Journal of Colloid Science and Langmuir . Parfitt travelled widely, lecturing on his subject, in latter years with increasing emphasis on titanium dioxide . He organised three successful Faraday Society Discussions . In addition to his papers, he was author or part-author of seven books . Parfitt's logical and systematic approach to experimental work and his capacity for hard work enabled him to make substantial progress with several complex colloidal problems . His best work was probably that on adsorption at the solid-liquid interface . In 1955 he married Sheila Britton, a Bristol Ph .D . in Organic Chemistry . They have three children, and he is survived by them, and by his mother, with whom we commiserate in their sad loss . Daniel D . Eley