a story lives forever
Register
Sign in
Form submission failed!

Stay signed in

Recover your password?
Register
Form submission failed!

Web of Stories Ltd would like to keep you informed about our products and services.

Please tick here if you would like us to keep you informed about our products and services.

I have read and accepted the Terms & Conditions.

Please note: Your email and any private information provided at registration will not be passed on to other individuals or organisations without your specific approval.

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

NEXT STORY

The astounding rate of advance in chemistry

RELATED STORIES

Patterns of the invisible
Norman Greenwood Scientist
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

So there was a lot of work on the teaching of chemistry at that stage. And, in fact, the inaugural lecture that I gave which was called, if I remember correctly, ‘Patterns of the Invisible: the Shape of Atoms and Molecules’. What I used as the theme there was, atoms and molecules are so small that we cannot actually see them. How can we talk about their shapes? How do we know anything about their shapes? So I went through the various spectroscopic techniques and I had a lot of demonstrations where one had a Perkin Elmer infrared spectrometer and as it went through it absorbed some... it dipped like that – I had a little light on the cursor. So that was a good experience of giving an inaugural lecture.

Norman Greenwood (1925-2012) was born in Australia and graduated from Melbourne University before going to Cambridge. His wide-ranging research in inorganic and structural chemistry made major advances in the chemistry of boron hydrides and other main-group element compounds. He also pioneered the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to problems in chemistry. He was a prolific writer and inspirational lecturer on chemical and educational themes, and held numerous visiting professorships throughout the world.

Listeners: Brian Johnson

Professor Brian FG Johnson FRS, FRSE, FRS Chem, FAcad Eu, FAS. Professor of Inorganic Chemistry University of Edinburgh 1991-1995, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry University of Cambridge 1995-2005, Master Fitzwilliam College Cambridge 1999-2005. Research interests include studies of transition metal carbonyls, organometallic chemistry, nano- particles and homogeneous catalysis. Professor Johnson is the author of over 1000 research articles and papers.

Tags: spectroscopy, Perkin-Elmer 21 Infrared Spectrometer

Duration: 59 seconds

Date story recorded: May 2011

Date story went live: 25 November 2011