Professor James Ralph Hanson CChem FRSC

Jim Hanson passed away suddenly after an ordinary, active day at his home in Sussex.

Jim was the eldest of four children and spent a war-time childhood in North London. The family spent a year in Wellington, New Zealand, where Jim's father, an eminent meteorologist, was setting up an office. On returning, Jim attended Queen Elizabeth's school in Barnet, obtaining five A levels and an open exhibition to Oxford University in 1955. In 1959 he was awarded a double 1st class honours BA and BSc by thesis, achieving the top marks for his year, followed by an MA in 1962, from Brasenose College, Oxford.

From 1959 -1963, he worked at the ICI Akers Laboratory (The Frythe) on the gibberellins, a group of diterpene plant growth promoters, extracted from a fungus infecting rice plants in Japan. 

After leaving Akers, he completed a PhD and DIC at Imperial College, under the supervision of Sir Derek Barton FRS. During this period, he taught evening classes at Sir John Cass College and met his wife to be.

The University of Sussex
In 1964, Jim married and joined the staff of the new University of Sussex at Falmer.  He worked there for the remainder of his life, holding positions of lecturer, reader and professor. During this time, he undertook the usual tasks of lecturing, practical supervision and administrative work but his favourite roles were those which enabled him to interact with students. He particularly enjoyed his time as sub-dean which allowed him to help students in difficult circumstances. He always had time to listen to and assist people, sacrificially abandoning current tasks to do so.

Jim was a deeply committed teacher. Over 50 years, hundreds of those studying chemistry, medicinal chemistry and biochemistry were inspired by his enthusiasm. He was particularly interested in laboratory classes and spent many hours developing exercises that allowed students both to perfect their techniques and to experience at first hand the thrill of discovering something new.  
The post-graduate students in his care formed close-knit communities, who tended to stay in touch.  He was a caring, involved and knowledgeable instructor to them.
He enjoyed teaching in various contexts, including those aimed at a wider public.

Independent Research and Publication
Jim continued his work on gibberellin chemistry and biosynthesis on coming to Sussex, and extended this work to cover a variety of related terpenes, steroids and other naturally occurring compounds. In studies of how one class of terpenes is synthesised in nature, his group showed how the folding of a single biological precursor gave rise to a wide variety of different natural products. His work on the biosynthesis of the gibberellin plant hormones led to an understanding of the complex pathway to these compounds.  

When it was discovered that mevalonic acid was a precursor of both steroids and terpenes, Jim built a friendship with John Cornforth, a future Nobel Prize winner, collaborating on projects of mutual interest, whilst maintaining his own, independent, research interests.

Jim and his students studied fungal biotransformations. They showed that, in two fungi, a mammalian, rather than a plant pathway is followed, and that modifications of steroids can sometimes be made without recourse to chemical methods.   

He published over 550 research publications, including many reviews.  He also published 13 books. These included books for students, including three in the RSC's tutorial chemistry texts series, and books aimed at a general chemical audience, such as "The Chemistry of Fungi" and "Chemistry in the Kitchen Garden" also available through the RSC.
His contributions to research were recognised in 1973 by the award of a DSc from Oxford University.

Contributions to the Royal Society of Chemistry
Jim Hanson had been a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and its precursor Societies since 1956 and was RIC, FRIC and CChem, FRSC.

At various times, he was Member and Chairman of the RSC Downlands Section, National Assessor GRSC for practical organic chemistry for 17 years, Senior Reporter for the RSC Terpenoids and Steroids SPR, Senior Reporter for the RSC  Annual Reports on Organic Chemistry, Member of the RSC Editorial Board of Natural Product Reports, Member and later Deputy-Editor-in- Chief  of the RSC Editorial Board of Journal of Chemical Research and Mendeleev Communications, Member of the RSC Journals Management Committee and Member of the RSC Applications Committee. He was moderator in organic chemistry for the GRIC parts 1 and 2.

In 2008, Jim was awarded a service award from the RSC journal Natural Product Reports for his dedicated contributions to the journal as author and editorial board member.

Other National Contributions
Jim served on the Science and Engineering Research Council's Biology Advisory Panel and on one of the SERC CASE Panels.  He was a Member of the Editorial Board of Natural Product Letters, a GCE A Level examiner and an assessor for the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon in Sri Lanka.

Retirement and Family Life
Jim continued to work after retirement until his death, travelling to London for meetings most weeks, going to the university regularly and editing, marking or writing from home. He had the retirement he wanted - active and interesting to the end.

Outside of work, Jim was a devoted husband and father. He expended much effort and time on activities to instruct his children and latterly his grandchildren. He particularly wanted to nurture a love of music in them, becoming involved in regular practice, music lessons and orchestral rehearsals.

Jim was a gifted musician and played 'cello, piano and organ. He was organist of a local church, from 1972 until his passing. He was church warden during his retirement, applying his intelligence and attention to detail in ways that reflected his strong faith.

He enjoyed gardening, planning and developing his beautiful garden over many years.
Jim Hanson had many friends, colleagues and a close family. We will all remember him for his warm kindness, genuine humility, unfailing courtesy, diligence in duty and, of course, his brilliant intelligence. He was a supportive "rock" to us all.

Acknowledgements
My grateful thanks are extended to Jim's colleagues, Douglas Young and David Smith, for all their contributions and helpful advice towards the writing of this document.

This obituary was compiled by his daughter.