Chemistry Department, University College London
Sir Christopher Ingold, with his colleague Edward Hughes, was the leading international figure in the development of physical organic chemistry between about 1930 and 1965, raising organic chemistry from a descriptive treatment of the properties and reactions of molecules, to an interpretive understanding of why they show those characteristics.
This work, with the nomenclature Hughes and Ingold introduced, is now an integral part of the fabric of organic chemistry. It helped to transform organic synthesis from an art into a science, and it underlies all modern synthetic methods and their application in, for example, the synthesis of pharmaceuticals.
It was reported almost exclusively in the Journal of the Chemical Society, and in the two editions of Ingold's monumental book on Structure and Mechanism in Organic Chemistry, and was carried out in the Chemistry Department, University College London.
From left to right: Professor John Ridd, Professor Stephen Caddick, Professor David Price and Professor Dave Garner |
RSC President, Professor David Garner, presented Professor David Price, Vice Provost of Research, with the plaque in honour of the work of Professor Sir Christopher Ingold at an award ceremony in the Chemistry Department at UCL Friday, 28 November 2008 which was attended by an audience of 100 people.
The ceremony included a lecture on Sir Christopher Ingold given by Professor John Ridd and attended by Sir Christopher's daughter, Dilys Jones, Head of Department Professor Steve Caddick as well as staff, students of UCL and RSC members.
The citation on the plaque, which is sited in Gordon Street next to the entrance to the Chemistry Department reads:
During the period 1930-1970 Professor Sir Christopher Ingold pioneered our understanding of the electronic basis of structure, mechanism, and reactivity in organic chemistry, which is fundamental to modern-day chemistry.
