Kenneth Wade, (1932–2014) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and professor emeritus at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

Early life and education

Kenneth Wade was born in

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...

on 13 October 1932, the second son of Harry Kennington Wade and his wife, Anna Elizabeth Wade. He was educated at

Carre's Grammar School Carre's Grammar School is a selective secondary school for boys in Sleaford, a market town in Lincolnshire, England. Founded on 1 September 1604 by an indenture of Robert Carre, the school was funded by rents from farmland and run by a group ...

,"Wade, Prof. Kenneth"
''Who's Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007). Retrieved 28 December 2017. and graduated from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

as the first PhD student (1954–1957) of

Norman Greenwood Norman Neill Greenwood (19 January 1925 – 14 November 2012) was an Australian-British chemist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Leeds. Together with Alan Earnshaw, he wrote the textbook ''Chemistry of the Elements'', first published ...

, and

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Career

After spending two years as a post-doctoral student at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and two further years lecturing successively at

and Derby College of Technology, in 1961 Wade became a Lecturer at

. In 1971, he was appointed Senior Lecturer and was promoted to Reader in 1977. Between 1983 and 1998, he was Professor of Chemistry at the university and served, between 1986 and 1989, as chairman of its Department of Chemistry. Wade's Rules, also known as

Polyhedral skeletal electron pair theory In chemistry the polyhedral skeletal electron pair theory (PSEPT) provides electron counting rules useful for predicting the structures of clusters such as borane and carborane clusters. The electron counting rules were originally formulated by ...

, are a set of electron counting rules to predict the shapes of

borane Borane is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . Because it tends to dimerize or form adducts, borane is very rarely observed. It normally dimerizes to diborane in the absence of other chemicals. It can be observed directly as a c ...

clusters.

Awards

*1982: Main Group Award,

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

. *1999:

Tilden Prize The Tilden Prize is an award that is made by the Royal Society of Chemistry for advances in chemistry. The award was established in 1939 and commemorates Sir William A. Tilden, a prominent British chemist. The prize runs annually with up to thre ...

. *1989: Fellow,

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. *1999: Ludwig Mond Award,

. *2012: Chancellor's Medal,

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

References

External links

"Collection of articles dedicated to Professor Ken Wade, F.R.S. in celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday"
''

Dalton Transactions ''Dalton Transactions'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering original (primary) research and review articles on all aspects of the chemistry of inorganic, bioinorganic, and organometallic compounds. It is published by the Royal ...

'', 3 April 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Kenneth British chemists 1932 births 2014 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of Durham University Alumni of the University of Nottingham People educated at Carre's Grammar School Cornell University alumni