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John Meurig Thomas obituary John Meurig Thomas (1932–2020) Sir John Meurig Thomas, who was one of the leading materials and catalytic scientists of his generation, sadly died in November 2020, aged 87. homas was born in Wales, the son of a enabling him to study one of the most coal miner, and his early life was spent significant conceptual developments in Tin the Gwendraeth Valley in South catalysis over the last decades — single-site Wales; throughout his life he remained catalysis. Thomas was an early explorer in passionately committed to his native developing this new field. His work land, its language and literature. He was focussed on using mesoporous silica both an undergraduate and postgraduate MCM-41 as a support or tether for new student at Swansea University and after single-site catalysts. MCM-41 provided a brief postdoctoral period at the Atomic ordered mesopores that could be tuned Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston, in diameter, thereby adding a degree of he was appointed a Lecturer at Bangor confinement for the single-site catalysts. University and subsequently Professor at Working with Maschmeyer, Sankar and Aberystwyth University. In 1978 he Credit: Kevin Quinlan / University of Delaware Rey, a landmark publication appeared in moved to the University of Cambridge 19957 in which metallocenes were grafted as Professor of Physical Chemistry and onto the walls of MCM-41 and were shown subsequently to London, where he was measurements of both long-range and to be a highly effective epoxidation catalyst Director of the Royal Institution from local structure on the same sample under for cyclohexene and pinene 1986–1991 — an ideal role for him as it identical reaction conditions. Working using tetrabutylperoxyhydroxide as allowed him to combine his creativity with the Daresbury team, Thomas and oxidant. This catalyst had the advantage as a scientist with his deep interest in the collaborators were able to track the over Ti-silicalite (TS-1) as the pores of history of science and his skills as a lecturer complex structural changes occurring when Ti-MCM-41 were significantly larger (3 nm) and communicator of science. In the early aurichalcite is calcined to form the Cu/ZnO and this permitted access to much larger 1990s he took up a senior appointment in catalysts used in methanol synthesis3. substrates. the University of Wales before returning From the early 1980s, Thomas Thomas published prolifically, with over to Cambridge as Master of Peterhouse became increasingly fascinated by 1,100 papers, reviews and books, during College. More details of his remarkable nanoporous catalytic materials — zeolites, his exceptionally productive career. His career can be found in several eloquent aluminophosphates and subsequently publications in Nature journals provide obituaries and tributes, for example ref. 1. mesoporous silicas. Technical innovation a fascinating tour of topics and people in Our focus here will be on his wide-ranging is again apparent, as in his work4 applying science over the last six decades. In this and highly influential scientific magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic short article it has not been possible to contributions. resonance to follow structural changes, in do justice to Thomas’s achievements, but Thomas was a pioneer in solid-state and this case during the ultrastabilization of we hope that it has given a glimpse of his materials chemistry and throughout his zeolite Y — the petrochemical-cracking science, which will have an enduring career developed and applied new concepts catalyst. He also, much earlier than most impact on our understanding of materials and techniques. An excellent early example experimentalists, appreciated the growing and catalysis. ❐ is provided by his article from 1974 on power of computer modelling in solid-state ‘Topography and topology in solid state science and had indeed collaborated with Richard Catlow1,2 ✉ and chemistry’2 — a typically alliterative title Parker and Catlow at University College Graham Hutchings 1 — which explores the role of topological London to use modelling tools to rationalize 1School of Chemistry, Cardif University, Cardif, concepts in organic and inorganic solids. experimental data on the structural UK. 2Department of Chemistry, University College The review is a fascinating account of the properties of pyroxenoid silicates5. Much London, London, UK. early uses of techniques and concepts that of his work on microporous catalysts in ✉e-mail: [email protected] have become standard and widespread in the 1990s combined experiment with materials science. modelling, an excellent illustration being Published online: 17 February 2021 His greatest scientific contributions work on computational template design6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00940-5 were, however, in the field of heterogeneous Borrowing concepts from drug design, catalysis; his impact in the field was again Lewis and Willock developed software References 1. Professor Sir John Meurig Tomas. Te Times (20 November characterized by both conceptual and that computationally ‘grew’ synthesis 2020); http://go.nature.com/3ae8I7R technical innovation. An excellent and templates inside a target microporous host. 2. Tomas, J. M. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 277, 251–286 (1974). landmark example is provided by his The procedure worked: the di-substituted 3. Couves, J. W. et al. Nature 354, 465–467 (1991). 4. Klinowski, J., Tomas, J. M., Fyfe, C. A. & Gobbi, G. C. Nature work in the early 1990s, exploiting recent cyclohexane derivative predicted as a 296, 533–536 (1982). developments at the Daresbury Synchrotron suitable template for the levyne-structured 5. Catlow, C. R. A., Tomas, J. M., Parker, S. C. & Jeferson, D. A. Radiation Source, where Greaves, Dent ALPO was then successfully synthesized — a Nature 295, 658–662 (1982). and Derbyshire had combined rapid genuine example of de novo computational 6. Lewis, D. W., Willock, D. J., Catlow, C. R. A., Tomas, J. M. & Hutchings, G. J. Nature 382, 604–606 (1996). X-ray diffraction and X-ray spectroscopy design. In the mid-1990s his interests 7. Maschmeyer, T., Rey, F., Sankar, G. & Tomas, J. M. Nature 378, instrumentation, allowing time-resolved broadened to include mesoporous materials, 159–162 (1995). 280 NATURE MATERIALS | VOL 20 | MARCH 2021 | 280 | www.nature.com/naturematerials.
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