Biography:Bob Briggs (chemist)

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Short description: New Zealand organic chemist (1905–1975)

Bob Briggs
Born
Lindsay Heathcote Briggs

(1905-01-03)3 January 1905
Hastings, New Zealand
Died16 January 1975(1975-01-16) (aged 70)
Auckland, New Zealand
Alma mater
Known forContribution to the structure of strychnine; chemistry of New Zealand native plants
AwardsHector Medal (1943)
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic chemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Auckland
Thesis (1932)
Doctoral advisorRobert Robinson

Lindsay Heathcote "Bob" Briggs (3 January 1905 – 16 January 1975) was a New Zealand organic chemist.

Early life

Born in Hastings in 1905,[1] Briggs was educated at Auckland Grammar School.[2]

Academic career

After graduating from Auckland University College with a Master of Science with second-class honours in 1928,[3] he received funding to research manuka oil the following year,[4] and undertook independent research at Massey Agricultural College from 1929 to 1930.

He then went to the Dyson Perrins Laboratory at Oxford University for a PhD under Robert Robinson, investigating the chemical structure of strychnine.[1] He was awarded his doctorate in 1932 and returned to Auckland, where he was appointed as a lecturer in organic chemistry in 1933.[2]

In 1941 he was awarded a DSc from Auckland University College.[3] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1942[5] and served as its president from 1956 to 1958.[6] He was awarded the Hector Medal by the society in 1943.[7] In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.[8]

He was also an active member of the Auckland University field club.[9]

References