Thomas Summers West
| Thomas Summers West | |
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Launch of Scotland Land Use Ordnance Survey Maps 1976. Taken at the Macaulay Institute, 1976
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| Born |
18 November 1927 Peterhead, Scotland |
| Died | 10 January 2010 (aged 82) Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England |
| Residence | United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Analytical chemistry |
| Institutions | Birmingham University Imperial College London Macaulay Institute Aberdeen |
| Alma mater | Aberdeen University |
| Doctoral advisor | Ron Belcher |
| Notable students | Bernard Fleet, Roy Dagnall, Gordon Kirkbright |
| Notable awards | FRS 1989, CBE 1988, Maison de la Chimie Paris Honorary Member 1985, The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry Honorary Member 1981, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1979, Slovak-Czech Spectroscopic Society Johannes Marcus Marci Medal 1977, Society for Analytical Chemistry Gold Medal 1977 Chemical Society Chemical Analysis and Instrumentation Medal 1976, Institute of Chemistry Meldola Medal 1956 |
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Thomas Summers West CBE FRS (18 November 1927 – 9 January 2010) was a British chemist.
He was born in 1927 in Peterhead, Scotland and educated at Old Tarbat Public School in Portmahomack and then Tain Royal Academy. He then studied chemistry and obtained a B.Sc degree at Aberdeen University.
He moved to Birmingham University in 1949 to carry out research in analytical chemistry under Professor Ron Belcher and obtained his Ph.D in 1952 and his D.Sc in 1962. In 1956 he was awarded the Meldola Medal and Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry for advances in chemistry. In 1963 he moved to Imperial College in London as Reader in Analytical Chemistry and became Professor Of Analytical Chemistry at Imperial College in 1965. He established a world-famous research team that included Roy Dagnall, Gordon Kirkbright and Bernard Fleet who were pioneers in the field of analytical atomic absorption spectroscopy and atomic fluorescence spectroscopy.
He became Director of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in 1975 retiring in 1987 and also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1979. During this period he worked on a number of Royal Commissions and was Chairman of the Scientific Committee of Sir John May's investigation into the IRA Woolwich and Guildford bombings from 1991 to 1993. He also served as Chairman of Panels I and III on the Royal Society, International Relations Committee during the 1990s
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