From Coronation Street to a Consummate Chemist Brian Halton From Coronation Street to a Consummate Chemist Brian Halton - i - Clarity arisis in the spaces in between From The Fifth Woman by Henning Mankell published by Harvill Press and used by permission of the Random House Group Limited - iii - About the covers The painting that adorns the front cover is the 1901 watercolour entitled Victo- ria College: First Chemistry Laboratory, 1901, painted by Sybil Johnson. It was donated to the Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection in 1949 by Lady Easterfield, wife of the first Professor of Chemistry and hangs in Laby 101, the Level 1 Office of the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences in the Laby Build- ing. The laboratory was not on the Kelburn campus but housed in an upstairs room of the then Wellington Technical School in Victoria Street. The photograph on the back cover is of the author at age 70 years, taken by Sean Craig in 2011. - iv - Foreword Brian Halton’s autobiography tells the story of one of New Zealand’s most dis- tinguished organic chemists, from his birth and early life in Lancashire, his uni- versity education at Southampton, his migration to New Zealand in 1968, and his subsequent life as an international research chemist and academic from his base at Victoria University of Wellington. The book is full of contemporary detail and illustrated with interesting pictures and diagrams. Professor Halton tells of the intricate interplay of events and interactions which led him through various way- points and junctions on his remarkable professional career. Many other characters appear, individuals who will be known to many of Professor Halton’s professional colleagues. This adds to the book’s interest. For those who seek to understand what makes some scientists ‘tick’, I commend this book as a fascinating, highly person- alised account of one man’s life journey. Professor Sir Paul Callaghan GZNM FRS FRSNZ - v - - vi - Preface Many biographies and autobiographies of famous chemists have been published over the years, perhaps none better known than those from the American Chemical Society. So, one may ask: ‘Why one from a not so famous (infamous?) chemist?’ The reason is simple enough. On his retirement from Monash University in Mel- bourne in 1996, Roger Brown encouraged retired and retiring chemists to provide an account of their careers. As few such documents exist in New Zealand, and as my life has been one immersed in chemistry, I can see no better way to move my career closer to its end than by recalling those things that have served me so well for so many years. In so doing, my more than 40 years at Victoria University of Wellington form the essence of what follows. This book is for all those colleagues around the world, named or not, who have influenced my life, my research and my being, for the students who worked with me, and for those whose horizons have been expanded because of me; they have all made my life in chemistry so much the better. Whatever has been achieved has been made possible only because of the love and support of my family. This book is dedicated to them. I am particularly grateful to my wife, Margaret, for proof reading the entire manuscript through various stages of production and Rebecca Hurrell, the manag- ing Editor of Chemistry in New Zealand, who has transposed the text and its il- lustrations into the book form that Canterbury Educational Printing Services have so professionally produced. Dr. Joanne Harvey (Victoria University of Wellington) has proof read most of the text in her typically astute and attentive manner and I am especially grateful to her for her perceptive comments. The School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington has been particularly supportive during the time from the concept of the book to its ultimate appearance and the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry has assisted with the production. All remaining errors are the sole responsibility of the author. My appreciation goes to John Spencer (Head of School) and my colleagues in Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington for their patience, tolerance and good humour over many years. BH Wellington, August 2011 - vii - - viii - Contents Foreword by Professor Sir Paul Callaghan v Preface vii The Early Years – Lancashire and London 1 University Years – Southampton 10 Undergraduate Days 10 Postgraduate Study 14 The Research 16 Florida in the Mid-1960s 21 A New Life, a New Place, and an Emerging Career 32 Voyage to the Antipodes 32 The First Months 35 Time to Settle In 39 A Career Develops 42 The Australian Experience 48 Sabbatical Leave and New Colleagues 52 A Young Family, a Career, and Momentum 59 Sabbatical in Salt Lake City 65 Advances in Chemistry – At What Cost? 69 Chemistry and Service 77 A Postdoc for Planar Strain 77 Service in New Zealand and Beyond 81 More Chemistry and Some Recognition 85 From Recognition to Retirement 94 A New Direction 94 New Staff, New Challenges, and a New Home 103 The Joys of Emeritus Professor – What Better Role? 129 So what about the Bread and Butter? 136 Postscript 140 That Which I Regard as the Best 140 References 143 Appendices 147 Appendix I 147 Appendix II 149 Appendix III 161 Appendix IV 164 - ix - - x - The Early Years Lancashire and London Mary (Halton) Spencer 1912-1996 John Henry Halton 1906-1965 Life for me began at about 6 am on Sunday the 9th of March in 1941 at a maternity home in the Lancastrian town of Accrington (Lancashire) in northwest England, the first and only child of Mary (May) and John Henry Halton. After what was in those war days considered an appropriate time, I was taken home to 13 Corona- tion Street in Great Harwood, a nearby cotton town then of some 8000 people. Coronation Street remains small and terraced, and is located close to the top left of the aerial photograph (above what became the Oxo Factory in 1938).1 It was an unmade road, then paved with cobblestones and ultimately surfaced convention- ally in the 1950s. March 9 has few noted events save for the birth of Mickey Spillane (1918- 2006), the US author who wrote the Mike Hammer detective novels, and Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968). Michael Dewar reported2 solidifying liquid air to the Roy- al Society on this day in 1893, and the Barbie doll was launched on it in 1959 when I was 18! The town of Great Harwood lies within sight of Pendle Hill and easy reach of the Ribble Valley, but it has always been just off the main road and, like many - 1 - From Coronation Street to a Consummate Chemist Left: Outside 13 Coronation St, spring 1941. Centre: With gate in 1997. An uncle and aunt lived at No. 17 (satellite dish) from 1948 to 1995. Right: Gt. Harwood from the Air. small towns or large villages, it is quite unremarkable. Indeed, it is not on a major road, and one does not pass through it on the way to somewhere else. Its only buildings of significance are the Town Hall and Mercer Memorial Clock, and the Mercer Hall (now the public recreation centre). It has had many distinguished sons and daughters though not many who are famous.1 Gt. Harwood (left): Clock Tower and Town Hall; (right): Mercer Leisure Centre (photos kindly provided Ian Fairclough). The most renowned citizen was John Mercer who, in 1844, devised a process to cause cotton fibres to swell upon treatment with sodium hydroxide. In the original version of his process the fibres swelled and caused the overall size of the fabric to shrink, making it stronger and easier to dye. The process became popular after H. A. Lowe improved it in 1890 by holding the cotton during treatment to prevent it from shrinking. On doing this, the fibre gains a lustrous appearance and repre- sents the modern form of the process. The self-taught Mercer became famous and wealthy; he excelled in the dye industry working in the Oakenshaw Calico Print Works (where he became a partner) ‘dyeing cloth with certain colours and figures on a ground of a different hue’. The factory was located in what is now Clay- ton-le-Moors and close to the Hyndburn river. His development of chemistry and chemical processes became widely recognised and he became one of the founding members of the Chemical Society (1842), joined its Council in 1860, and remains - 2 - The Early Years the only ‘Harroder’ to be elected to the Royal Society (1852) upon nomination by James Thomson, Thomas Graham, Walter Crum and Lord Playfair. And so I was raised for my first years at No. 13 Coronation Street. My mother, a nurse of the mentally handicapped (the terminology of those days), remained at home as was the custom, while my father worked as a male nurse in Calderstones. This was a mental institution that had been converted into a wartime children’s hospital, but the children were evacuated shortly before the troops came back from Dunkirk. It is set in lovely country near Whalley with beautifully kept grounds, and it lies in the Ribble Valley some three miles from what was our home. It still ex- ists, but is now a UK National Trust Home providing specialist services to people with a learning disability. I do not know when Dad became a male nurse as, during the ‘great depression’, he had been a full-time musician (saxophone and clarinets) touring Ireland as a member of the Elite Orchestra – a dance band comprising his elder brothers (Bob and Eddie) and two friends – and they still did Saturday dances from time to time.