Emeritus Fellow Sir John Rowlinson dies aged 92

Sir John Rowlinson, FRS FREng (photo: Lizzie Maughan)

It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Sir John Rowlinson, FRS FREng, Emeritus Fellow in Chemistry. Sir John died on 15 August 2018, aged 92.

Sir John was born in Cheshire in 1926. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford, earning an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and a DPhil in Chemical Kinetics before moving to Manchester in 1951 to lecture at the University of Manchester. In 1961 he became Professor of Chemical Technology at Imperial College London. In 1974 he came to Oxford as the Dr Lee’s Professor of Chemistry, becoming also a Professorial Fellow of Exeter College. He served as Dr Lee’s Professor of Chemistry until his retirement in 1993, when he became an Emeritus Fellow at Exeter.

Sir John was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1970 and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1976. In 1983 he received the Faraday Lectureship Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry for ‘exceptional contributions to physical or theoretical chemistry’. He was knighted in 2000 for services to chemistry, chemical engineering and to education.

Sir John was an active member of the Exeter College community. He regularly joined members of the Senior Common Room for lunch and attended alumni events. He will be sadly missed.