Sir Brynmor Jones (25 September 1903 – 16 July 1989) was a Welsh-born Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. Brynmor Jones was born in North

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and was educated at University College of Wales at Bangor (BSc in Chemistry, 1925) and at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

(PhD, 1933). He obtained a number of research fellowships at the Chemistry Department in Cambridge. He gained his first teaching post at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

in 1931, where he began research into

liquid crystals Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal can flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a common direction as i ...

. In 1947 he was appointed to a professorial chair in Chemistry at the University College Hull. A year later he was awarded the

DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

higher doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. During his early years at Hull he was made Dean of Science, and later Deputy Principal. When the college achieved full university status in 1954, he became its Pro-Vice-Chancellor. In 1956, on the retirement of

John H Nicholson John Henry Nicholson (21 September 1889 – 9 August 1972) was the second Principal of University College Hull, and the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull. Dr John H Nicholson was educated at the University of Oxford, where he gaine ...

, Jones was appointed Vice-Chancellor. Brynmor Jones oversaw a period of rapid expansion of the University of Hull, with student numbers quadrupling during his time in office. He notably steered the university through a period of significant student unrest over the summer of 1968. In the same year he received a knighthood in the New Year's Honours List. Jones was a driving force behind the expansion of Hull University library, working closely with the university librarian

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (194 ...

. The new library was opened in 1960; later, in 1967, it was named the

Brynmor Jones Library The Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) is the main library at the University of Hull, England. In 1967 it was named after Sir Brynmor Jones (academic), Brynmor Jones (1903-1989) who initiated research in the field of Liquid Crystals (LCD) at Hull and ...

in his honour. Jones received a number of honorary degrees. He retired in 1972.Bamford, cited throughout

References

Bibliography

*Bamford, T.W. (1978) ''The University of Hull: the First Fifty Years'', Published for the University of Hull by Oxford University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Brynmor 1903 births 1989 deaths Welsh scholars and academics Vice-chancellors of the University of Hull Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Sheffield