Sir Hugh Stott Taylor (6 February 1890 – 17 April 1974) was an English

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

primarily interested in

catalysis Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...

.Who Was Who, Published by A&C Black Limited In 1925, in a landmark contribution to catalytic theory, Taylor suggested that a catalysed

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the positions of electrons in the forming and breaking ...

is not catalysed over the entire solid surface of the catalyst but only at certain '

active site In biology and biochemistry, the active site is the region of an enzyme where substrate molecules bind and undergo a chemical reaction. The active site consists of amino acid residues that form temporary bonds with the substrate ( binding site) ...

s' or centres. He also developed important methods for procuring heavy water during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and pioneered the use of stable

isotope Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers ( mass num ...

s in studying chemical reactions.

Early life

Taylor was born in St Helens, Lancashire, England in 1890, the son of glass technologist James and Ellen (née Stott) Taylor. He was educated at Cowley Grammar School in St Helens and then attended the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

, where he received his BSc in 1909 and his MSc in 1910. Taylor then carried out three years of graduate work in Liverpool, after which he spent one year at the Nobel Institute in Stockholm in the laboratory of

Svante Arrhenius Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received the Nob ...

and another at the Technische Hochschule in Hanover under

Max Bodenstein Max Ernst August Bodenstein (July 15, 1871 – September 3, 1942) was a German physical chemist known for his work in chemical kinetics. He was first to postulate a chain reaction mechanism and that explosions are branched chain reactions, lat ...

. These studies earned him a PhD degree from the University of Liverpool in 1914.

Basic research

Taylor showed that chemisorption may be an activated process, and occur slowly. Moreover, he conceived the idea that chemically active sites might be sparse on the surface of a catalyst and, hence, could be inhibited with relatively few molecules. Taylor showed that hydrogen atoms are key intermediates of reactions involving H₂ on metal surfaces and also discovered the conversion of heptane to toluene over chromium oxide.

Protein structure

Taylor and a graduate student developed the first semi-realistic model of the α-helix, an element of protein

secondary structure Protein secondary structure is the three dimensional form of ''local segments'' of proteins. The two most common secondary structural elements are alpha helices and beta sheets, though beta turns and omega loops occur as well. Secondary struct ...

. An earlier model by

Astbury Astbury is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrew Astbury, English swimmer * Ian Astbury, English rock singer * Jill Astbury, Australian researcher into violence against women * William Astbury, English physicist and molecular ...

had been shown to be physically implausible by Hans Neurath. Using physical models and chemical reasoning, Taylor sought to find a better model, which differs only slightly from the modern α-helix proposed by

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topi ...

and Robert Corey. Taylor reported their models at his

Franklin Medal The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. It was founded in 1914 by Samuel Insull. The Franklin Medal was the most prestigious of the various awar ...

lecture (1941) and in press (1942).

Work at Princeton

Taylor began at

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

in 1914 as instructor in Physical Chemistry, and by 1915, was made an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Professor of Physical Chemistry in 1922 and became chair of the Chemistry Department at Princeton in 1926, where he served until 1951. In 1927, Taylor became the David B. Jones Professor of Chemistry at Princeton. Taylor also served as the Dean of the Graduate School at Princeton from 1945 to 1958. As Chair of Chemistry from 1926 to 1951, Taylor developed the Chemistry Dept. at Princeton energetically and oversaw the construction of the Frick Chemical Laboratory. He received the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

Remsen Award Ira Remsen (February 10, 1846 – March 4, 1927) was an American chemist who discovered the artificial sweetener saccharin along with Constantin Fahlberg. He was the second president of Johns Hopkins University. Early life Ira Remsen was bor ...

in the year of his retirement. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

in May 1932.

Personal life

He married Elizabeth Agnes Sawyer on 12 June 1919; They had two daughters. Taylor was a devoted

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who helped to establish the Catholic chaplaincy at Princeton in 1928 and spoke publicly about the reconciliation of science and

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (Papal) and a Commander of the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgium ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Awards and legacy

Taylor was knighted by both Pope Pius XII and Queen Elizabeth II. The Hugh Stott Taylor Chair of Chemistry at Princeton was funded by an anonymous gift of $500K in honour of Taylor's contributions to Princeton.

Death

Taylor died on 17 April 1974 in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...

.Biography at Astro4.ast.vill.edu.
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References

External links

1965 Audio Interview with Hugh Taylor by Stephane Groueff
Voices of the Manhattan Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Hugh Stott 1890 births 1974 deaths 20th-century British chemists Alumni of the University of Liverpool Commanders of the Order of Leopold II English emigrants to the United States English Roman Catholics Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Manhattan Project people People from St Helens, Merseyside Princeton University faculty