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Paul Francis McMillan | |
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Born |
Edinburgh, Scotland | 3 June 1956
Died | 2 February 2022 London, England | (aged 65)
Nationality | British, French |
Occupation(s) | Academic and scientist |
Scientific career | |
Fields |
|
Institutions |
University College London, Arizona State University |
Thesis | A structural study of aluminosilicate glasses by Raman spectroscopy (1981) |
Doctoral advisor | Alexandra Navrotsky, John Holloway |
Website |
www |
Paul Francis McMillan (3 June 1956 – 2 February 2022) was a British chemist who held the Sir William Ramsay Chair of Chemistry at University College London. [1] His research considered the study of matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure, with a focus on phase transitions, amorphisation, and the study of glassy states. He has also investigated the survival of bacteria and larger organisms ( tardigrades) under extreme compression, studies of amyloid fibrils, [2] the synthesis and characterisation of carbonitride nanocrystals and the study of water motion in confined environments. He has made extensive use of Raman spectroscopy together with X-ray diffraction and neutron scattering techniques.
McMillan was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, and brought up in Loanhead, a small mining and farming village at the base of the Pentland Hills. [3] He attended Lasswade High School, where he graduated with the Marshall Memorial medal. [3] He then studied for a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. [3] After graduating, McMillan moved to Arizona State University, where he researched geochemistry with John Holloway and Alexandra Navrotsky. [3] His doctoral research was in using vibrational spectroscopy to investigate the structures of silicate glasses. [4]
McMillan worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University, where he installed one of the first micro-beam Raman spectroscopy instruments in the US. He used Raman spectroscopy to study high pressure minerals and materials. He was hired to a teaching position at Arizona State University in 1983, and promoted to Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1993. [3] He was appointed Director of the Center for Solid State Science in 1997 and was named Presidential Professor of the Sciences. [3] In 2000 he was awarded the Brunauer Cement Award of American Ceramic Society. [5] In 2000, McMillan returned to the United Kingdom, where he was made Professor of Solid State Chemistry at University College London, an appointment jointly held with the Royal Institution. [3] McMillan has also held visiting positions at the Universités of Nantes and Rennes, the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Université Claude Bernard.[ citation needed]
McMillan's research involved the exploration of solid state chemistry under extreme high pressure and high temperature conditions using diamond anvil cells. [6] New compounds and materials are prepared and studied at up to a million atmospheres and thousands of degrees Celsius using spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction. [7] He studied the properties and structure of liquids, amorphous solids and biological molecules at high pressure. [6] McMillan has contributed across numerous fields and has published work relating to solid state inorganic/materials chemistry, high pressure-high temperature research, [8] amorphous solids and liquids, [9] vibrational spectroscopy, [10] synchrotron X-ray and neutron scattering, mineral physics, graphitic carbonitrides, [11] battery materials and the response of bacteria to high pressures. [12]
In 2015 McMillan was a panellist on Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time on BBC Radio 4. [13]
McMillan died in London on 2 February 2022, at the age of 65. [14] [15] [16]