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Charles Kemball Was One of the Most Distinguished British Chemists of His Generation

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Charles Kemball Was One of the Most Distinguished British Chemists of His Generation CHARLES KEMBALL CBE, MA, ScD(Cantab), DSc(H-W,QUB), C Chem, FRSC, MRIA, FRS Charles Kemball was one of the most distinguished British chemists of his generation. He was born in Edinburgh in 1923, the only son of a distinguished dental surgeon, Charles Henry Kemball FRSE , and was educated at Edinburgh Academy. It was clear from an early age that he was very talented and even in the preparatory school at Edinburgh Academy his teacher found his speed at mental arithmetic rather disconcerting. Bright pupils were encouraged towards the Classics and it was only after the School Certificate Examination that a perceptive teacher persuaded him to move to the Sciences. He had an aptitude at shooting and was a member of the shooting VIII which won the Kinder Cup at Bisley in 1939. Subsequently he was captain of shooting and won the shooting cup in his final two years at the Academy. Despite his late move to sciences he won an Entrance Exhibition in Natural Sciences and went up to Trinity College Cambridge in 1940. At this time his interests lay more with Mathematics and Physics but he later moved to Chemistry and gained First Class Honours in Parts I and II of the Tripos. He went on to do research in the Department of Colloid Science under the direction of Professor E K Rideal, financed by a grant from the Ministry of Aircraft Production, to investigate problems in adhesion. In addition to some direct investigations into the strength of various adhesives for metals, the main work undertaken was a detailed study of the adsorption of vapours on the surface of mercury, to determine the magnitude of the forces attracting the molecules to the metal. His main recreation during this period was Judo at which he achieved the grade of Blue Belt, and captained the University team in 1943 and 1944. For this he was awarded a half-blue and was elected to the Hawks Club. In 1946 he was elected a Research Fellow of Trinity College and was also awarded a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship which he held at Princeton. There he worked with Professor H.S. Taylor on hydrocarbon reactions over nickel catalysts. Returning to Cambridge in 1947 he began his pioneering work on the exchange reactions of hydrocarbons with deuterium over evaporated metal films, using mass spectrometry to determine the products. This proved to be a powerful method for investigating the nature of the adsorbed intermediates on catalyst surfaces and the mechanisms of catalytic reactions. Indeed, this method, together with new techniques for product and isotopic analysis, formed the basis of his research for the next forty years. In 1949 he was appointed Junior Bursar at Trinity College and in 1951 University Demonstrator in Physical Chemistry which he combined with a College Lectureship. In 1954, at the age of thirty-one, he was appointed to the Chair of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry at the Queens University of Belfast. During the 12 years that he spent in Belfast, Kemball developed a School of Catalysis that had an international reputation and attracted workers from the USA and many other parts of the world. He established strong contacts with a number of industrial organisations as his research was of considerable importance to optimising industrial catalytic processes. In 1964 he was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and in 1965 a Fellow of The Royal Society (London). He served as Dean of Science and later Vice-President of the University. It was at Queens that he met his future wife Kathleen Lynd and they married in 1956. In 1966 he moved to the Chair of Chemistry at Edinburgh University, where he succeeded the late Tom Cottrell who had become the first Principal of Stirling University. He again established a strong school of heterogeneous catalysis and later became President of the International Congress on Catalysis. He served for five years on the Physical Sciences Committee of the UGC (1966-70) and became increasingly involved with Chemistry on the national scene. In 1974 he became President of The Royal Institute of Chemistry, at the time leading up to Unification with The Chemical Society. He was Chairman of the Publications Board of The Chemical Society (1973-81) during a difficult period of change and rapid inflation. Early in his career at Edinburgh he was instrumental in bringing both Evelyn Ebsworth, later Vice- Chancellor of Durham University, and Sir John Cadogan, later Director General of the Research Councils, to the University. In 1975 he again took on the role of Dean of Science. However, circumstances were very different from his time in Belfast when there had been rapid expansion. Inflation was at a peak of 27% and firm action was required as the University was not being fully compensated and a financial crisis was looming. His judgement was now required on the best way to make savings and how to minimise the resulting damage. His outstanding ability to see through complex problems and identify the key issues led to a fair distribution of diminishing resources. Kemball was also a Governor of the East of Scotland College of Agriculture (1977-84) at a time when the storm clouds were developing and substantial cuts were about to be imposed on many of the College activities. Here again his experience was of great value. He also found time to be a Governor of the St. Denis School and a Director of the Edinburgh Academy. In 1983 he retired from the Chair of Chemistry although he continued his research and teaching as a part-time University Fellow. In 1988 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh University and was also awarded a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship. Despite the considerable pressures on his time, Kemball strongly supported the activities of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and served as Vice-President on two occasions between 1971-74 and 1982-85. In 1988 he became President of the Society, succeeding Sir Alwyn Williams, and was much involved in the successful appeal for funds to purchase the premises at 22-24 George Street. Negotiations with the Caledonian Research Foundation also led to funding, through the Society, for the promotion of medical research, and with BP for a prize in the humanities. Charles Kemball was awarded many other honours and prizes including the Tilden Medal (1960) and the Colloid and Surface Chemistry Award (1972) of the Chemical Society, the Ipatieff Prize of the American Chemical Society (1962: first award outside the USA), the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize of the RSE (1982) and a special award for Services to The Royal Society of Chemistry (1986). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1967) and was awarded Honorary Degrees by Heriot-Watt University (1980) and Queens University Belfast (1983). The award of the CBE in 1991 was a timely token for his many contributions to public service. His main recreations were gardening, genealogy, bridge, winemaking and hill-walking. In 1981 he celebrated his 100th Munro with champagne on Carn an Tuirc, but a revision of the tables reduced this number and he was able to celebrate again in 1983. Charles Kemball will be remembered for his distinguished contributions to our understanding of heterogeneous catalysis and for his administrative excellence which made his services so valuable to the affairs of both professional and academic bodies. He died on 4 September 1998 at his home in Tyninghame and is survived by his wife Kathleen, who greatly assisted and supported him throughout his career, his son Alan, two daughters, Heather and Mary, and nine grandchildren. ROBERT J DONOVAN .
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