Douglas Hugh Everett FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

MBE (26 December 1916 – 25 June 2002) was a British chemist and academic author. His most pertinent contributions to science were in the field of thermodynamics. He famously (in relation to scientists) said: There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality: and then there are some who turn one into the other.

Life

He was born in

Hampton, London Hampton is a suburb of Greater London on the north bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, and the historic county of Middlesex. Hampton is bounded by Bushy Park to the east (and to the north of St Al ...

on 26 December 1916 the son of Charles Everett, who was then serving as a Captain in France in the

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

. His father was a bus-driver in civilian life. He was educated at Hampton-on-Thames Grammar School, then studied Chemistry first at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

(graduating 1938) then postgraduate studies at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. He was a Kitchener Scholar 1936 to 1939 and Ramsay Fellow 1939 to 1941. He gained his first doctorate (PhD) in 1942. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1942–45) he was allocated to Special Scientific Duties at the War Office. After the war he returned to

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

as an ICI Fellow. In 1947 he left England to lecture in Chemistry at

Dundee University The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

. This seemed to act as the catalyst to being offered a lecturing post in Oxford, and he almost immediately returned to his alma mater to lecture. However, a counter offer of a Professorship in Dundee tempted him back in 1948. He continued in this role until 1954. In 1950 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Edward Copson Edward Thomas Copson FRSE (21 August 1901 – 16 February 1980) was a British mathematician who contributed widely to the development of mathematics at the University of St Andrews, serving as Regius Professor of Mathematics amongst other posit ...

George Dawson Preston George Dawson Preston FRSE (8 August 1896 – 22 June 1972) was a 20th century British physicist specialising in crystallography and the structure of alloys. He was one of the first to use x-rays and electron diffraction to study the crystal struc ...

, David Rutherford Dow and

George Howard Bell George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

. From 1954 he settled in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

first as Professor of Chemistry at

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

, then Dean of the Faculty of Science (1966–68) and finally Pro-Vice-Chancellor. The University of Reading granted him an honorary doctorate (DSc) in 1956. He served as president of the

Faraday Society The Faraday Society was a British society for the study of physical chemistry, founded in 1903 and named in honour of Michael Faraday. In 1980, it merged with several similar organisations, including the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Che ...

1976 to 1978. He died in Bristol on 25 June 2002.

Family

He married Frances Elizabeth Jessop in 1942. She died in 1999. They had two daughters, Susanna and Catharine (Kate).

Publications

*''The Structure and Properties of Porous Materials'' (1958) *''The Solid Gas Interface'' (1967) *''Introduction to the Study of Chemical Thermodynamics'' (1972) *''Basic Principles of Colloid Science'' (1988) *''SOE: The Scientific Secrets'' (published 2003) co-written with Frederic Boyce

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Everett, Douglas Hugh 1916 births 2002 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford British chemists Academics of the University of Bristol Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British non-fiction writers Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire