- Email: [email protected]
The life and career of Manuel Ribeiro da Silva
J. Chem. Thermodynamics 73 (2014) 1–2
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
J. Chem. Thermodynamics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jct
Obituary
The life and career of Manuel Ribeiro da Silva
Manuel Aníbal Varejão Ribeiro da Silva, was born in Porto, on 30 September 1940. After obtaining a chemical engineering degree from the University of Porto, in 1965, he was hired as a teaching assistant by the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Science. This position was short-lived. In September 1966, Manuel was drafted by the Portuguese navy and, until April 1969, he applied his chemistry expertise to serve in several scientific missions at sea. With a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he then sailed to the UK to pursue his real scientific interests in fundamental chemical phenomena. Manuel’s first thermochemical studies, guided by his Ph.D. mentor (Roger J. Irving, University of Surrey, UK), started in 1970 and addressed a family of metal b-diketonate complexes. After his Ph.D. exam (Henry A. Skinner being the external examiner), he returned to Porto in February 1974 and was hired as assistant professor of the Chemistry Department. Shortly thereafter he started to shape a thermochemistry laboratory in the old Faculty of Science building. He became associate professor about four years later and the full professorship was reached within a year, in 1979. He became Professor Emeritus of University of Porto, in 2011. The Porto thermochemistry laboratory, where some of his (many) co-workers are still working, gained international reputation thanks to the quality of the research results and the wealth of available thermochemical methods, including solution calorimetry, static and rotating bomb combustion calorimetry, micro-bomb combustion calorimetry, high temperature Calvet microcalorimetry, measurement of vapor pressures by Knudsen effusion and also by a static method, vaporization calorimetry, and macro and micro DSC.
0021-9614/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jct.2013.11.017
Manuel’s scientific interests were focused on three main themes: (1) determination of metal–ligand bond enthalpies in metal complexes with ligands containing oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen as donor atoms (ß-diketones, thio-ß-diketones, dialkyldithiocarbamates, amino acids, 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives, chalcogenourea acyl derivatives, and Schiff bases) and correlation of those values with structural and reactivity data; (2) determination of gas- and condensed-phase standard molar enthalpies of formation of aromatic compounds, nitrogen heterocycles, sulfur heterocycles, and oxygen heterocycles, aiming to derive enthalpic increments for group additivity schemes; (3) determination of standard molar enthalpies of sublimation of organic compounds and correlation of these data with molecular structure. Manuel Ribeiro da Silva published more than 300 papers, nearly half of which were in The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics. Many of these papers involved fruitful collaborations with colleagues from several countries (Brazil, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, and USA). In most cases, if not all, these collaborations led to long-lasting friendships. Incidentally, although Manuel had many, many friends, he was not an easy-going person! He was a fierce fighter when he had to face anything he considered unfair. But he was always ready to forgive and he was supportive to anybody who asked for help. Manuel was indeed a very strong leader and this is also shown by the number and importance of positions to which he was appointed or elected. For instance, he played a significant role in the administration of the University of Porto, as head of the Chemistry Department, as director of the Chemical Research Centre, as member of the Senate. He was also dean of the Faculty of Science from 1986 to 1998. He was president of the Portuguese Chemical Society (1985–1989). He was member of the advisory boards of many editions of the International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics and actively participated in the organization of a large number of other national and international meetings. He was a member of the advisory board of The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics since 1994, and he was regional editor of the Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry. He was a member of Commission I.2 (Thermodynamics) of IUPAC 1994–2000. He assessed many national and international scientific projects and refereed papers for many journals. His achievements have been recognized by several awards. To name a few, the 1988 diploma and medal of Inorganic Chemistry of the Institute of the Order of Lenin, USSR Academy of Sciences (for his contribution to the development of the chemistry of coordination compounds), the 2002 Ferreira da Silva Prize and Medal, from the Portuguese Chemical Society (in recognition for the development of chemical research in Portugal), the 2003 Swietoslawski
2
Obituary / J. Chem. Thermodynamics 73 (2014) 1–2
Medal, from the Polish Society of Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis (for the outstanding scientific international activity in thermodynamics and calorimetry), the 2009 J.Christensen Award for Innovations in Calorimetry, from U.S. Calorimetry Conference (in recognition of the outstanding contributions to the innovative development and use of calorimetric equipment), the 2011 Hugh M. Huffman Memorial Award, from U.S. Calorimetry Conference (in recognition of long term contributions to thermodynamics involving calorimetry and/or thermochemistry), and the 2012 Aicat-Setaram Award (for his outstanding contributions to advance the physical–chemical knowledge in experimental and computational thermochemistry). He was a corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. Manuel was such a hard worker that few people would guess that he had other interests in life, besides family and science. He was an avid collector of objects, such as stamps, mineral samples, and owl sculptures. He was also a serious basketball player. He played for the University of Surrey team in 1971–1973 and for the UK Southern Pirates (1st league) in 1972–1973. On moving from England back to Portugal, he stopped playing in 1973 and then started an international basketball referee career! Manuel Ribeiro da Silva passed away on 29 November 2012. He is no longer available for a chat about thermochemistry, basketball, or science management. But his life illuminated the path of many of us, colleagues, editors, authors alike, so at least we can attempt to guess what he would say about those and many other matters.
The publication of this special issue of The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, honoring not only Manuel’s scientific career but also his personal qualities, was therefore a natural initiative – promptly supported by the editors of JCT and by the many authors who agreed to contribute. We are thus convinced that he would be pleased with the variety and quality of the research reported in the present issue. José A. Martinho Simões Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal Tel.: +351 21 7500005; fax: +351 21 7500088. E-mail address: [email protected] Joel F. Liebman Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA E-mail address: [email protected] Manuel J.S. Monte Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal E-mail address: [email protected] Available online 27 November 2013
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
J. Chem. Thermodynamics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jct
Obituary
The life and career of Manuel Ribeiro da Silva
Manuel Aníbal Varejão Ribeiro da Silva, was born in Porto, on 30 September 1940. After obtaining a chemical engineering degree from the University of Porto, in 1965, he was hired as a teaching assistant by the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Science. This position was short-lived. In September 1966, Manuel was drafted by the Portuguese navy and, until April 1969, he applied his chemistry expertise to serve in several scientific missions at sea. With a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he then sailed to the UK to pursue his real scientific interests in fundamental chemical phenomena. Manuel’s first thermochemical studies, guided by his Ph.D. mentor (Roger J. Irving, University of Surrey, UK), started in 1970 and addressed a family of metal b-diketonate complexes. After his Ph.D. exam (Henry A. Skinner being the external examiner), he returned to Porto in February 1974 and was hired as assistant professor of the Chemistry Department. Shortly thereafter he started to shape a thermochemistry laboratory in the old Faculty of Science building. He became associate professor about four years later and the full professorship was reached within a year, in 1979. He became Professor Emeritus of University of Porto, in 2011. The Porto thermochemistry laboratory, where some of his (many) co-workers are still working, gained international reputation thanks to the quality of the research results and the wealth of available thermochemical methods, including solution calorimetry, static and rotating bomb combustion calorimetry, micro-bomb combustion calorimetry, high temperature Calvet microcalorimetry, measurement of vapor pressures by Knudsen effusion and also by a static method, vaporization calorimetry, and macro and micro DSC.
0021-9614/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jct.2013.11.017
Manuel’s scientific interests were focused on three main themes: (1) determination of metal–ligand bond enthalpies in metal complexes with ligands containing oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen as donor atoms (ß-diketones, thio-ß-diketones, dialkyldithiocarbamates, amino acids, 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives, chalcogenourea acyl derivatives, and Schiff bases) and correlation of those values with structural and reactivity data; (2) determination of gas- and condensed-phase standard molar enthalpies of formation of aromatic compounds, nitrogen heterocycles, sulfur heterocycles, and oxygen heterocycles, aiming to derive enthalpic increments for group additivity schemes; (3) determination of standard molar enthalpies of sublimation of organic compounds and correlation of these data with molecular structure. Manuel Ribeiro da Silva published more than 300 papers, nearly half of which were in The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics. Many of these papers involved fruitful collaborations with colleagues from several countries (Brazil, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, and USA). In most cases, if not all, these collaborations led to long-lasting friendships. Incidentally, although Manuel had many, many friends, he was not an easy-going person! He was a fierce fighter when he had to face anything he considered unfair. But he was always ready to forgive and he was supportive to anybody who asked for help. Manuel was indeed a very strong leader and this is also shown by the number and importance of positions to which he was appointed or elected. For instance, he played a significant role in the administration of the University of Porto, as head of the Chemistry Department, as director of the Chemical Research Centre, as member of the Senate. He was also dean of the Faculty of Science from 1986 to 1998. He was president of the Portuguese Chemical Society (1985–1989). He was member of the advisory boards of many editions of the International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics and actively participated in the organization of a large number of other national and international meetings. He was a member of the advisory board of The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics since 1994, and he was regional editor of the Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry. He was a member of Commission I.2 (Thermodynamics) of IUPAC 1994–2000. He assessed many national and international scientific projects and refereed papers for many journals. His achievements have been recognized by several awards. To name a few, the 1988 diploma and medal of Inorganic Chemistry of the Institute of the Order of Lenin, USSR Academy of Sciences (for his contribution to the development of the chemistry of coordination compounds), the 2002 Ferreira da Silva Prize and Medal, from the Portuguese Chemical Society (in recognition for the development of chemical research in Portugal), the 2003 Swietoslawski
2
Obituary / J. Chem. Thermodynamics 73 (2014) 1–2
Medal, from the Polish Society of Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis (for the outstanding scientific international activity in thermodynamics and calorimetry), the 2009 J.Christensen Award for Innovations in Calorimetry, from U.S. Calorimetry Conference (in recognition of the outstanding contributions to the innovative development and use of calorimetric equipment), the 2011 Hugh M. Huffman Memorial Award, from U.S. Calorimetry Conference (in recognition of long term contributions to thermodynamics involving calorimetry and/or thermochemistry), and the 2012 Aicat-Setaram Award (for his outstanding contributions to advance the physical–chemical knowledge in experimental and computational thermochemistry). He was a corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. Manuel was such a hard worker that few people would guess that he had other interests in life, besides family and science. He was an avid collector of objects, such as stamps, mineral samples, and owl sculptures. He was also a serious basketball player. He played for the University of Surrey team in 1971–1973 and for the UK Southern Pirates (1st league) in 1972–1973. On moving from England back to Portugal, he stopped playing in 1973 and then started an international basketball referee career! Manuel Ribeiro da Silva passed away on 29 November 2012. He is no longer available for a chat about thermochemistry, basketball, or science management. But his life illuminated the path of many of us, colleagues, editors, authors alike, so at least we can attempt to guess what he would say about those and many other matters.
The publication of this special issue of The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, honoring not only Manuel’s scientific career but also his personal qualities, was therefore a natural initiative – promptly supported by the editors of JCT and by the many authors who agreed to contribute. We are thus convinced that he would be pleased with the variety and quality of the research reported in the present issue. José A. Martinho Simões Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal Tel.: +351 21 7500005; fax: +351 21 7500088. E-mail address: [email protected] Joel F. Liebman Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA E-mail address: [email protected] Manuel J.S. Monte Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal E-mail address: [email protected] Available online 27 November 2013