Owen Wansbrough-Jones
Encyclopedia
Sir Owen Haddon Wansbrough-Jones KBE
, CB
(1906, Long Stratton
, Norfolk
, England
– 1983, Long Stratton
), was a leading academic chemist
and soldier
whose career included serving as Chief Scientist to the British Ministry of Supply.
Educated at Gresham's School
, Holt
, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge
, he took the degrees of B.A., B.Sc., and Ph.D.
at Cambridge
, where he worked under Eric Rideal
.
During his career in the Army and later in the Civil Service, he specialised in weapon development.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(1906, Long Stratton
Long Stratton
Long Stratton is a civil parish in South Norfolk, in the East of England, UK. It consists of two villages; the larger, Stratton St. Mary, is to the south, and the other, Stratton St. Michael, is to the north...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
– 1983, Long Stratton
Long Stratton
Long Stratton is a civil parish in South Norfolk, in the East of England, UK. It consists of two villages; the larger, Stratton St. Mary, is to the south, and the other, Stratton St. Michael, is to the north...
), was a leading academic chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
and soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
whose career included serving as Chief Scientist to the British Ministry of Supply.
Educated at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, Holt
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...
, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
, he took the degrees of B.A., B.Sc., and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where he worked under Eric Rideal
Eric Rideal
Sir Eric Keightley Rideal FRS was an English physical chemist. He worked on a wide range of subjects, including electrochemistry, chemical kinetics, catalysis, electrophoresis, colloids and surface chemistry. He is best known for the Eley-Rideal mechanism, which he proposed in 1938 with Daniel D....
.
During his career in the Army and later in the Civil Service, he specialised in weapon development.
Career
- 1930 - 1946 Fellow of Trinity Hall, CambridgeTrinity Hall, CambridgeTrinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
- 1939 - 1945 Served with British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
(with rank of BrigadierBrigadierBrigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
) - 1945 - 1951 Scientific Adviser to the Army Council
- 1951 - 1953 Principal Director for Scientific Research, Ministry of SupplyMinistry of SupplyThe Ministry of Supply was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained...
- 1953 - 1959 Chief Scientist, Ministry of Supply
- 1959 - 1970 Chairman of Albright & Wilson Ltd
Other Positions
- Chairman of the Operational Research Society
- Vice-President, British Industrial Biological Research Association
- Fellow of the Chemical SocietyChemical SocietyThe Chemical Society was formed in 1841 as a result of increased interest in scientific matters....
- Treasurer of the Faraday SocietyFaraday SocietyThe Faraday Society was a British society for the study of physical chemistry, founded in 1903 and named in honour of Michael Faraday. It merged with several similar organisations in 1980 to form the Royal Society of Chemistry...
(1949 - 1960) - Member of the Society of Chemical Industry
- Section Chair of the Society of Chemical Industry (1962 - 1966)
Sources
- The Growth of Operational Research 1939-1964, by Sir Charles Goodeve
- Owen Wansbrough-Jones at the Open University Biographical Database