Peter Day, FRS, FRSC, FInstP (20 August 1938 – 19 May 2020) was a British inorganic

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 of Chemistry at

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and later at University College London (UCL).

Early life and education

Day was born 20 August 1938 in

Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 motorway, M20 and M26 motorway, M26 motorways. History T ...

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. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

where he was awarded a

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degree in 1961 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1965 for research supervised by

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Career and research

Day was a pioneer of materials chemistry, seeking unusual physical properties in inorganic and metal–organic compounds and models to explain them. He played a major role in the development of mixed-valence chemistry, and has carried out important and elegant experimental and theoretical work on the spectra, magnetic properties and conductivity of solid, inorganic complexes. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: As a young researcher, he gave the first theoretically consistent description of the visible–ultraviolet spectra of

vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...

and its derivatives. Later, he put the assignment of inorganic charge-transfer spectra on a more rigorous basis; he correlated structures and physical properties of metal chain compounds and identified the first optically transparent ferromagnetic compounds by combined optical and

neutron scattering Neutron scattering, the irregular dispersal of free neutrons by matter, can refer to either the naturally occurring physical process itself or to the man-made experimental techniques that use the natural process for investigating materials. Th ...

methods. He also measured and systematised the optical properties of metamagnets. Peter Day's graduate work initiated the study of mixed-valence compounds and led to the Robin-Day Classification of such species. In 2012, he published a memoir about his life in science.

Personal life

Day was married to Frances, who died in 2018, and had two children, Alison and Christopher, and five grandchildren. Day died on 19 May 2020, at his home in

Marsh Baldon Marsh Baldon is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire. Since 2012 it has been part of the Baldons joint parish council area, sharing a parish council with the adjacent civil parish of Toot Baldon. The 2011 Cens ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, at the age of 81.

Awards and honours

Day received awards from both the

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(including the

Bakerian Lecture The Bakerian Medal is one of the premier medals of the Royal Society that recognizes exceptional and outstanding science. It comes with a medal award and a prize lecture. The medalist is required to give a lecture on any topic related to physical ...

in 1999) and 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 ...

; the latter named one of its awards in materials chemistry after him. He served many national and international agencies and institutions, both professional and governmental, and held numerous honorary degrees and fellowships. Day was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1986, and held the post of Director of the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

from 1991 to 1998. Day was also director of the Royal Institution's Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory and the Fullerian Professor of Chemistry.Fullerian ProfessorshipsJohn 'Mad Jack' Fuller
Day was made an honorary fellow of

in 2003 and was a Fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Peter 1938 births 2020 deaths Academics of University College London Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Directors of the Royal Institution English chemists British inorganic chemists Fellows of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Institute of Physics Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry People educated at Maidstone Grammar School People from Wrotham