Arthur Campbell (chemist)

Arthur Derek Campbell OBE (27 May 1925 – 20 December 2020) was a New Zealand analytical chemist. He was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Otago from 1948 to 1988, becoming a professor emeritus on his retirement.

Arthur Campbell
Born
Arthur Derek Campbell

(1925-05-27)27 May 1925
Waimate, New Zealand
Died20 December 2020(2020-12-20) (aged 95)
Dunedin, New Zealand
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Spouse
Ruth Florence Smith
(m. 1950; died 2019)
Children3
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic microanalysis
InstitutionsUniversity of Otago
Thesis Some applications of acrylonitrile  (1952)

Early life and education

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Campbell was born in Waimate on 27 May 1925, the son of Mona Sevicke Campbell (née Jones) and David Brown Campbell.[1] He was educated at Waimate High School, and then proceeded to study chemistry at the University of Otago, graduating Master of Science with second-class honours in 1948, and PhD in 1953.[1][2] His doctoral thesis was titled Some applications of acrylonitrile.

In 1950, Campbell married Ruth Florence Smith, and the couple went on to have three children.[1][3]

Academic and research career

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Campbell was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Otago from 1948 to 1988.[4] He was appointed as an assistant lecturer in 1948, rising to become a professor in 1971, and the Mellor Professor of Chemistry in 1983.[1] He served as a member of the University Council from 1963 to 1971, dean of the Faculty of Science from 1980 to 1982, and head of the Department of Chemistry from 1983 to 1988.[1] When he retired in 1988, he was conferred the title of professor emeritus.[4]

Campbell's early research centred on carboxylic acid derivatives.[5] However, he became interested in organic microanalysis, and developed many analytical procedures, and improved techniques for analysing perfluorinated organic compounds.[5] Campbell served as chair of the Chemical Testing Registration Advisory Committee of the Testing Laboratory Registration Council of New Zealand from 1973 to 1985.[1] Internationally, he was a Bureau Member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry from 1981 to 1989.[1] The University of Otago's Campbell Microanalytical Laboratory is named in his honour.[5]

Between 1979 and 1980, Campbell was president of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.[1]

Later life and death

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Campbell's wife, Ruth, died in Dunedin on 18 March 2019.[3] Campbell died in Dunedin on 20 December 2020.[6]

Honours and awards

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In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours, Campbell was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to science.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 89. ISBN 0-908578-34-2.
  2. ^ "NZ university graduates 1970–1961: Ca–Cl". Shadows of Time. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Ruth Florence Campbell". Tributes Online. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  4. ^ a b University of Otago Calendar (PDF). Dunedin: University of Otago. 2019. p. 114. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Arthur D. Campbell". Otago University Research Heritage. University of Otago. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Arthur Derek Campbell". Tributes Online. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  7. ^ "No. 51774". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 17 June 1989. p. 32.