Ronald Sydney Nyholm
Encyclopedia
Sir Ronald Sydney Nyholm was an Australian chemist, born on 29 January 1917 at Broken Hill, New South Wales
, Australia
, as the fourth in a family of six children. Broken Hill is a mining town whose streets are named after minerals, a fit place for to sire an inorganic chemist. Beryl-and-Sulphide is a road junction. He attended Burke Ward Public School and Broken Hill High School. Nyholm married Maureen Richardson of Epping
, a suburb of Sydney
, NSW
, at St Mary Abbotts Parish Church, Kensington, London on 6 August 1948. Ronald Nyholm’s father, Eric Edward Nyholm (1878–1932) was a railway guard who worked for the Silverton Tramway
a railway line that ran from Broken Hill to the South Australian border with NSW; whilst his paternal grandfather, Erik Nyholm (1850–1887) was a coppersmith born in Nykarleby
in the Swedish-speaking part of Finland
, who migrated to Adelaide
in 1873. Ronald Nyholm valued his Finnish roots and was particularly proud in his election in 1959 as Corresponding Member of the Finnish Chemical Society. Nyholm was educated at Broken Hill High School; the University of Sydney
(B.Sc., 1938; M.Sc., 1942) and University College, London (Ph.D., 1950, supervised by Sir Christopher Ingold
; D.Sc., 1953). On graduation Ron became a High School teacher - a contractual requirement of his scholarship to university. He then joined the Eveready Battery Co as a chemist where he was frustrated that his work to make longer lasting batteries was not well received by the marketing department. He then returned to teaching but now in tertiary education. During World War II he was a Gas Officer as the civil defence forces were very concerned that the likely Japanese invasion would include gas attacks. He was lecturer, then senior lecturer in Chemistry at Sydney Technical College
from 1940 to 1951, although on leave in London from 1947. From 1952 to 1954 he was associate professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the New South Wales University of Technology. In 1954 he was elected President of the Royal Society of New South Wales
. In 1955, Nyholm returned to England as Professor of Chemistry at University College London, until his death in a motorcar accident on the outskirts of Cambridge, England, 4 December 1971.
, Nyholm demonstrated a range of oxidation states and coordination numbers for several of the transition metals. Nyholm noted that the term ‘unusual valence state’ had an ‘historical, but not chemical significance.’ ‘The definition of usual oxidation state refers to oxidation states that are stable in environments made up of those chemical species that were common in classical inorganic compounds, e.g. oxides, water and other simple oxygen donors, the halogens, excluding fluorine, and sulphur. Nowadays, however, such species constitute only a minority of the vast number of donor atoms and ligands that can be attached to metal.’
After joining Sydney Technology college in 1940 Ron formed a close personal friendship with Francis (Franky) Dwyer and they collaborated in their research. Despite heavy teaching loads, between 1942 and 1947 they reported complexes of rhodium, iridium and osmium in seventeen papers in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales.
One of Nyholm’s early successes was the preparation of an octahedral complex of trivalent nickel [Ni(diars
)2Cl2]Cl, by aerial oxidation of the red salt of bivalent nickel [Ni(diars
)2]Cl2. He also described stable complexes of quadrivalent nickel such as the deep blue [Ni(diars
)2Cl2][ClO4]2, by nitric acid oxidation of the trivalent complex. This stabilisation of higher oxidation states became significant in the Nyholm-Rail reaction where the ditertiary arsine, diars
undergoes a condensation reaction to a tritertiary arsine, triars. Nyholm prepared examples of divalent octahedral complexes of the type M(diars
)2X2, where X is Cl, Br or I, and M is …
Cr Mn Fe Co Ni
Mo Tc Ru Pd
W Re Os Pt
Many of these divalent complexes are sensitive to aerial oxidation, the chromium complex especially so, even reducing anaerobic water. Indeed numerous previous attempts to prepare Cr(diars
)2X2 had proven unsuccessful. The chromium compounds were eventually synthesized by his co-worker Dr Tony Rail only a month before Nyholm’s death, using rigorously anhydrous and anoxygenous conditions.
Together with Professor Ronald Gillespie
, Nyholm developed the VSEPR concept, which emphasized classical pictures of bonding, adapted to include features of quantum theory, but focusing on electron clouds of varying density within a probability envelope.
In 2009 a new mineral was discovered in Broken Hill. Its structure was elucidated by Elliot et al. The mineral was named Nyholmite after Ron Nyholm, in recognition of his Broken Hill roots, and his love of inorganic chemistry. It is of course very fitting that it is an arsenic compound, an element that featured strongly in his research career. It is a cadmium-zinc arsenate species, isostructural with the minerals of the hureaulite
group. The mineral occurs in a quartz-garnet-arsenopyrite matrix as white globules, tufted aggregates of fibrous crystals and radiating hemispheres of thin, colourless, bladed crystals.
, at least partly as a result of Nyholm’s influence, established the Science Teaching project, of which Nyholm was the first Chairman of the Chemistry Consultative Committee. This led to the development of experiential GCE courses that emphasized the process of chemistry, rather than the recall of chemical facts, and explored the role of chemistry in society. In 1971 Ron published an article entitled 'Education for Change' in which he differentiated between education and training as it applies to chemistry. He defined education as ‘a process in which a person receives a training for a full life in a rapidly changing modern society, carried out in such a manner as will ensure the maximum development of the individual personality'. He was not a person who placed too much emphasis on fact-burdened and fact-tested learning such as in the National Curriculum developments in England in the nineteen-nineties.
Nyholm defined training for a full life as including:
The Nyholm Prize for Inorganic Chemistry and the Nyholm Prize for Education, founded by the Chemical Society in 1973, are now awarded biennially by the Royal Society of Chemistry
.
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, as the fourth in a family of six children. Broken Hill is a mining town whose streets are named after minerals, a fit place for to sire an inorganic chemist. Beryl-and-Sulphide is a road junction. He attended Burke Ward Public School and Broken Hill High School. Nyholm married Maureen Richardson of Epping
Epping
Epping is a small market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located north-east of Loughton, south of Harlow and north-west of Brentwood....
, a suburb of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, NSW
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, at St Mary Abbotts Parish Church, Kensington, London on 6 August 1948. Ronald Nyholm’s father, Eric Edward Nyholm (1878–1932) was a railway guard who worked for the Silverton Tramway
Silverton Tramway
The Silverton Tramway was an Australian long narrow gauge railway running from Cockburn on the South Australian state border to Broken Hill in New South Wales. Operating between 1888 and 1970 it served the mines of Broken Hill, and formed the link between the standard gauge New South Wales...
a railway line that ran from Broken Hill to the South Australian border with NSW; whilst his paternal grandfather, Erik Nyholm (1850–1887) was a coppersmith born in Nykarleby
Nykarleby
Nykarleby is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality is bilingual, with the majority speaking Swedish and the minority Finnish ....
in the Swedish-speaking part of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, who migrated to Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in 1873. Ronald Nyholm valued his Finnish roots and was particularly proud in his election in 1959 as Corresponding Member of the Finnish Chemical Society. Nyholm was educated at Broken Hill High School; the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
(B.Sc., 1938; M.Sc., 1942) and University College, London (Ph.D., 1950, supervised by Sir Christopher Ingold
Christopher Kelk Ingold
Sir Christopher Kelk Ingold FRS was a British chemist based in Leeds and London. His groundbreaking work in the 1920s and 1930s on reaction mechanisms and the electronic structure of organic compounds was responsible for the introduction into mainstream chemistry of concepts such as nucleophile,...
; D.Sc., 1953). On graduation Ron became a High School teacher - a contractual requirement of his scholarship to university. He then joined the Eveready Battery Co as a chemist where he was frustrated that his work to make longer lasting batteries was not well received by the marketing department. He then returned to teaching but now in tertiary education. During World War II he was a Gas Officer as the civil defence forces were very concerned that the likely Japanese invasion would include gas attacks. He was lecturer, then senior lecturer in Chemistry at Sydney Technical College
Sydney Technical College
The Sydney Technical College was a name used by Australia's oldest technical education institution.It began as the Sydney Mechanics' Institute in 1843...
from 1940 to 1951, although on leave in London from 1947. From 1952 to 1954 he was associate professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the New South Wales University of Technology. In 1954 he was elected President of the Royal Society of New South Wales
Royal Society of New South Wales
The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. It was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June 1821...
. In 1955, Nyholm returned to England as Professor of Chemistry at University College London, until his death in a motorcar accident on the outskirts of Cambridge, England, 4 December 1971.
Inorganic chemistry
Nyholm's research in inorganic chemistry was primarily concerned with the preparation of transition metal compounds, particularly those involving organo-arsenic ligands. His interest in the organoarsenic chemistry was fostered at the University of Sydney by George Joseph Burrows (1888–1950). Using the strong chelating ligand diars1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
, Nyholm demonstrated a range of oxidation states and coordination numbers for several of the transition metals. Nyholm noted that the term ‘unusual valence state’ had an ‘historical, but not chemical significance.’ ‘The definition of usual oxidation state refers to oxidation states that are stable in environments made up of those chemical species that were common in classical inorganic compounds, e.g. oxides, water and other simple oxygen donors, the halogens, excluding fluorine, and sulphur. Nowadays, however, such species constitute only a minority of the vast number of donor atoms and ligands that can be attached to metal.’
After joining Sydney Technology college in 1940 Ron formed a close personal friendship with Francis (Franky) Dwyer and they collaborated in their research. Despite heavy teaching loads, between 1942 and 1947 they reported complexes of rhodium, iridium and osmium in seventeen papers in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales.
One of Nyholm’s early successes was the preparation of an octahedral complex of trivalent nickel [Ni(diars
1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
)2Cl2]Cl, by aerial oxidation of the red salt of bivalent nickel [Ni(diars
1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
)2]Cl2. He also described stable complexes of quadrivalent nickel such as the deep blue [Ni(diars
1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
)2Cl2][ClO4]2, by nitric acid oxidation of the trivalent complex. This stabilisation of higher oxidation states became significant in the Nyholm-Rail reaction where the ditertiary arsine, diars
1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
undergoes a condensation reaction to a tritertiary arsine, triars. Nyholm prepared examples of divalent octahedral complexes of the type M(diars
1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
)2X2, where X is Cl, Br or I, and M is …
Cr Mn Fe Co Ni
Mo Tc Ru Pd
W Re Os Pt
Many of these divalent complexes are sensitive to aerial oxidation, the chromium complex especially so, even reducing anaerobic water. Indeed numerous previous attempts to prepare Cr(diars
1,2-Bis(dimethylarsino)benzene
1,2-Bisbenzene is the organoarsenic compound with the formula C6H42. The molecule consists of two dimethylarsino groups attached to adjacent carbon centers of a benzene ring. It is a chelating ligand in coordination chemistry...
)2X2 had proven unsuccessful. The chromium compounds were eventually synthesized by his co-worker Dr Tony Rail only a month before Nyholm’s death, using rigorously anhydrous and anoxygenous conditions.
Together with Professor Ronald Gillespie
Ronald Gillespie
Ronald James Gillespie, CM , a chemistry professor at McMaster University, specializes in the field of Molecular Geometry in Chemistry. In 2007 he was awarded the Order of Canada....
, Nyholm developed the VSEPR concept, which emphasized classical pictures of bonding, adapted to include features of quantum theory, but focusing on electron clouds of varying density within a probability envelope.
In 2009 a new mineral was discovered in Broken Hill. Its structure was elucidated by Elliot et al. The mineral was named Nyholmite after Ron Nyholm, in recognition of his Broken Hill roots, and his love of inorganic chemistry. It is of course very fitting that it is an arsenic compound, an element that featured strongly in his research career. It is a cadmium-zinc arsenate species, isostructural with the minerals of the hureaulite
Hureaulite
Hureaulite is a manganese phosphate with the formula Mn2+522·4H2O. It was discovered in 1825 and named in 1826 for the type locality, Les Hureaux, Saint-Sylvestre, Haute-Vienne, Limousin, France...
group. The mineral occurs in a quartz-garnet-arsenopyrite matrix as white globules, tufted aggregates of fibrous crystals and radiating hemispheres of thin, colourless, bladed crystals.
Education
In his inaugural lecture as professor of chemistry at University College London, Nyholm spoke of his concern for the teaching of chemistry. In 1957 Nyholm organized the first of an annual series of Summer Schools at University College on new aspects of chemical knowledge and theory, and demonstrations of new equipment. In the early sixties, the Nuffield FoundationNuffield Foundation
The Nuffield Foundation is a British charitable trust, established in 1943 by William Morris , the founder of the Morris Motor Company. Lord Nuffield wanted to contribute to improvements in society, including the expansion of education and the alleviation of disadvantage...
, at least partly as a result of Nyholm’s influence, established the Science Teaching project, of which Nyholm was the first Chairman of the Chemistry Consultative Committee. This led to the development of experiential GCE courses that emphasized the process of chemistry, rather than the recall of chemical facts, and explored the role of chemistry in society. In 1971 Ron published an article entitled 'Education for Change' in which he differentiated between education and training as it applies to chemistry. He defined education as ‘a process in which a person receives a training for a full life in a rapidly changing modern society, carried out in such a manner as will ensure the maximum development of the individual personality'. He was not a person who placed too much emphasis on fact-burdened and fact-tested learning such as in the National Curriculum developments in England in the nineteen-nineties.
Nyholm defined training for a full life as including:
- ‘ Recognition of oneself as an individual with the development of some kind of ethical standards. This may take place via training in religion of one kind or other; whether these beliefs are rejected later or not, they form at least a basis against which future behaviour can be measured.’
- ‘ Man is a social being and needs to be made familiar with the nature of, and the reason for, the development of the society in which he is living …’
- ‘ Man needs to be able to communicate both by the spoken word and the written word …’
- ‘ Man must be numerate. It is essential that he receive an understanding of the process of quantitative thinking appropriate to his intellectual ability.’
Industry
Nyholm was passionately associated with industry all of his life. One of his earliest jobs was as a chemist at Eveready Batteries in Sydney. The application of science to useful products was of great importance to him and he loved the DuPont logo "Better things for better living through chemistry". He was a very active consultant to a number of companies including ICI and Johnson Matthey in the UK and DuPont in the US. In addition to his many close academic friends from his work in the UK and Australia, and also in the US - people like Stanley Kirschener at Wayne State and James V Quagliano at Notre Dame, some of his closest friends were in industry. They included world class leaders in chemical industry research such as Duncan S Davies, General Manager of ICI R&D, Wendell F Jackson of DuPont's Explosives Division, the first person to see Teflon when as a young man it was his job cut open the famous cylinder, Hub (Harold M) Hubbard formerly of DuPont and latterly head of SERI (NREL) the Solar Energy Research Institute a man who felt as comfortable in a lab as in boots in the middle of Kansas, and Robert M Cavanaugh, Director of Research at DuPont's Explosives Division. All of these individuals provided Ron, and received from him, stimulation in both the arts and sciences with a firm foothold on the real world. Perhaps the best comment on Ron's relationship with industry was summarized by Williams who felt that Nyholm was not a real believer in theoretical chemical studies as such. Instead he believed that Ron was an old school empiricist, collecting data.... and then searching for correlations.Honours and awards
- 1952. Awarded the Corday-Morgan medalCorday-Morgan medalThe Corday–Morgan Medal and Prize is a prestigious award that has been made annually by the Royal Society of Chemistry since 1949 for the most meritorious contributions to experimental chemistry, including computer simulation...
and Prize of the Chemical SocietyRoyal Society of ChemistryThe Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
. - 1955. Awarded the H G Smith Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical InstituteRoyal Australian Chemical InstituteThe Royal Australian Chemical Institute Inc. is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches. The RACI hosts conferences, seminars and workshops...
. - 1959. Elected Fellow of the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. - 1959. Awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of New South WalesRoyal Society of New South WalesThe Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. It was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June 1821...
. - 1959. Elected Corresponding Member of the Finnish Chemical Society.
- 1961. Appointed Tilden Lecturer of the Chemical SocietyRoyal Society of ChemistryThe Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
. - 1967. Appointed Liversidge Lecturer of the Chemical SocietyRoyal Society of ChemistryThe Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
. - 1967. Created Knight BachelorKnight BachelorThe rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
for services to science. - 1968. Awarded the Gold Medal of the Italian Chemical Society.
- 1968. Honorary Doctor of Science, University of East AngliaUniversity of East AngliaThe University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
. - 1968. Honorary Doctor of Science, City University, LondonCity University, LondonCity University London , is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute and became a university in 1966, when it adopted its present name....
. - 1969. Awarded the Sigillum Magnum Medal, University of BolognaUniversity of BolognaThe Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
. - 1969. Honorary Doctor of Science, University of New South WalesUniversity of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. - 1971. Elected Honorary Member of the Accademia Peloritana (Sicily)
The Nyholm Prize for Inorganic Chemistry and the Nyholm Prize for Education, founded by the Chemical Society in 1973, are now awarded biennially by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Royal Society of Chemistry
The Royal Society of Chemistry is a learned society in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemical sciences." It was formed in 1980 from the merger of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry, the Faraday Society and the Society for Analytical Chemistry with a new...
.