Ronald James Gillespie

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Background of Dr Ronald James Gillespie

Name: Ronald James Gillespie
Birthdate: August 21,1924
Birthplace: London, England
Title: Professor Emeritus
Workplace: Department of Chemistry, McMaster University,Ontario,Canada
Status: Retired
Education:

BSc. University College London, 1945

PhD. University College London, 1949

DSc. University College London, 1957

CHILDHOOD

Figure 1: Ronald Gillespie in his childhood (Source: http://ronaldgillespie.weebly.com/)

Gillespie comes from poor family. Despite so, he is a hardworking and excellent student. At the age of 11, Gillespie received scholarship to the local grammar school. During high school, Gillespie was inspired by his chemistry teacher, Mr. George Cast. Mr. Cast always make chemistry seem to be more exciting compared to textbook by doing lab experiments with his students. Ronald Gillespie specialized in chemistry, physics, and pure and applied mathematics, but did particularly well in chemistry. Gillespie left school in 1942.

UNIVERSITY LIFE

He was awarded a bursary to do a special two year wartime degree at University College London.

During second year, he began to join research group and pursue his studies in sulfuric acid, taking his research in a new innovative direction. This led to the quest to discover other super acid systems of even greater acidity. In 1949,he was already appointed as an assistant lecturer before awarded his Ph.D by University College London. In 1953 Gillespie was awarded a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship. Gillespie moved to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1958. The offer from McMaster double his salary and gave him the chance at research funding from the National Research Council of Canada.

WORKING EXPERIENCE

Dr. Ronald J Gillespie had hold numerous faculty positions and are so experienced. The list of working experience can be seen below. (Adapted from: http://ronaldjg.weebly.com/education-and-career.html)

1948 - 1950: Assistant Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University College London.

1950 – 1958: Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University College London.

1958 – 1960: Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.

1960 – 1989: Professor, Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.

1962 – 1965: Chairman Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.

1989 : Present Emeritus Professor, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.

Figure 3: McMaster University where Gillespie work and continue his research. (Source: wikimedia.org)

AWARDS

Gillespie recieved many awards for his contribution. Below is the award received according to year. (Adapted from: http://rjgillespie.weebly.com/awards-and-achievements.html)

1953: Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry
1960: Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada
1965: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
1966: Noranda Award (Chemical Institute of Canada),
1967: Canadian Centennial Medal,
1976: Union Carbide Award (Chemical Institute of Canada) for Chemical Education,
1977: Silver Jubilee Medal,
1977: Chemical Institute of Canada Medal,
1977: Fellow of the Royal Society, London,
1983: Tory Medal (Royal Society of Canada)
2007: Order Of Canada

According to Brian McCarry, chair of the Department of Chemistry, Order of Canada recognizes Ron Gillespie's pioneering research in main-group inorganic chemistry, particularly in the areas of fluorine chemistry, super acid media and concepts of chemical bonding. In addition to his research, Gillespie is also claimed to be popular for his talent as lecturer and educator.

"Dr. Gillespie has made a tremendous impact on science and the Faculty of Science continues to benefit from his contributions and influence in teaching and research within the field of chemistry," said John Capone, dean of the Faculty of Science. "We are proud of him and his accomplishments and are delighted with his appointment to the Order of Canada."(Source: http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/)

Figure 4: Order of Canada is given to those who make a major difference to Canada through lifelong contributions . (Source: wp.rac.ca)

PUBLICATION

Dr. Ronald J. Gillespie published some books and journal articles. (Source:ttp://www.chemistry.mcmaster.ca/gillespie/)

1. Molecular Geometry, Van Nostrand Reinhold, London, 1972, 226 pages.

German translation: Verlag Chemie 1975

Russian translation: MIR 1975

2. Chemistry, with D.A. Humphreys, N.C. Baird and E.A. Robinson

Allyn and Bacon, 1986, 895 pages. 2nd Edition, 1989, 1132 pages

3. The VSEPR Model of Molecular Geometry (Figure 5) with I. Hargittai Allyn and Bacon, 1991

Russian translation: MIR 1992

Italian translation Zanichelli 1994

Figure 5: The VSEPR Model of Molecular Geometry (Source:http://ronaldjg.weebly.com/)

4. Atoms, Molecules and Reactions: An Introduction to Chemistry (Figure 6) with D.A. Humphreys, E.A. Robinson and D.R. Eaton,

Prentice Hall, 1994, 750 pages.

Figure 6: Atoms, Molecules and Reactions: An Introduction to Chemistry (Source:http://ronaldjg.weebly.com/)

A new book is to be published by Oxford University Press in 2001:

5. The Chemical Bond and Molecular Geometry: from Lewis to Electron Densities.

by Ronald J. Gillespie and Paul L. A. Popelier

Journal Articles

Gillespie has over 370 articles in: The Journal of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Inorganic Chemistry, The Canadian Journal of Chemistry, The journal of the Chemical Society, The Journal of Chemical Education, and many others.