David Michael Patrick Mingos (born 6 August 1944) is 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 academic. He was Principal of

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

from 1999 to 2009, and Professor of

Inorganic Chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

Education

Mingos attended the Harvey Grammar School, King Edward VII School Lytham St Anne's,

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for Research univer ...

(Chemistry Department Prize 1963, BSc First Class 1965, Hon DSc 2000), and the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

(

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

1968, and Hon DSc 2001).

Career

Mingos undertook

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

(

Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

1968–70) and at the

( ICI Fellow 1970–71). From 1971 until 1976 he was a Lecturer at

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

. He then moved to the University of Oxford as Fellow and Tutor at

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

and University Lecturer. From 1977 until 1992 he was also Lecturer at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

. In 1978, Mingos, Stephen G. Davies and Malcolm Green compiled a set of rules that summarise where nucleophilic additions will occur on pi ligands. Mingos' 1984 paper on the

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 ...

develops Wade's electron counting rules for predicting the

molecular geometry Molecular geometry is the three-dimensional arrangement of the atoms that constitute a molecule. It includes the general shape of the molecule as well as bond lengths, bond angles, torsional angles and any other geometrical parameters that det ...

cluster compound Nanoclusters are atomically precise, crystalline materials most often existing on the 0-2 nanometer scale. They are often considered kinetically stable intermediates that form during the synthesis of comparatively larger materials such as semic ...

s. In 1990 he was appointed Reader in Inorganic Chemistry and for the academic year 1991/92 he served as Assessor. From 1992 until 1999 he worked at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

as Sir Edward Frankland

British Petroleum BP p.l.c. (formerly The British Petroleum Company p.l.c. and BP Amoco p.l.c.; stylised in all lowercase) is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. It is one of the oil and gas " supermajors" and one of ...

Professor of Inorganic Chemistry (1992–99) and Dean of the

Royal College of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from t ...

(1996–99). In 1999 Mingos was appointed Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford and at the same time he became a visiting professor at

. In 2000 he received as a

Title of Distinction The University of Oxford introduced Titles of Distinction for senior academics in the 1990s. These are not established chairs, which are posts funded by endowment for academics with a distinguished career in British and European universities. Howeve ...

the title of professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Oxford. He was superseded as principal by Professor Keith Gull on 1 October 2009."Full History of the Hall"
St Edmund Hall With

David J. Wales David John Wales One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 1963) is a professor of chemical physics in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. Education Wales ...

he is the co-author of the textbook ''Introduction to Cluster Chemistry''.

Honours and awards

In 1980, Mingos was award the Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize of the

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 ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1992.

Personal life

Michael Mingos is the son of Vasso Mingos, of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and Rose Enid Billie Mingos ''née'' Griffiths.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mingos, Michael 1944 births English chemists British inorganic chemists English science writers English people of Greek descent Fellows of the Royal Society Living people Scientists from Lancashire Academics of Queen Mary University of London Academics of Imperial College London Northwestern University faculty Fellows of Keble College, Oxford Principals of St Edmund Hall, Oxford People educated at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School People educated at The Harvey Grammar School Deans of the Royal College of Science Alumni of the University of Sussex