UK Edition
Professor Paul O’Brien, materials chemist and nanotechnologist who promoted science in Africa – obituary
Professor Paul O’Brien, who has died aged 64, was one of Britain’s leading materials chemists and made major contributions to nanotechnology (science and engineering at the scale of atoms and molecules) and to promoting science in Africa.
In 1984 he met Professor Donald Bradley, and their discussions led O’Brien to realise that through imaginative chemistry, many new small band-gap semiconductors could be made at low temperatures with exquisite control of properties. (Semiconductors are materials widely used in electronic circuits that can conduct electricity under some conditions but not others, allowing the control of electrical current). The new materials would have a wide range of applications, and be produced with low waste and energy costs. In 1995 he adapted these low temperature processes to produce very small semiconductor particles, only several nanometres in size, known as “quantum dots”. These now have applications in display technology, such as high-end televisions and solar energy capture. In 2002 he founded Nanoco, which is now a public company building on the original work performed by O’Brien’s group.
O’Brien was also a pioneer in promoting African science, training many scientists who gained permanent positions in Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania and Cameroon. The techniques he had developed translated easily into African laboratories, without requiring specialist equipment, allowing African scientists to pursue world-class materials science. At the time of his death he was engaged in a Royal Society-Department of International Development initiative to enable institutions in Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa to make new materials for solar energy generation. His African students called him their “Father of Chemistry”.
Paul O’Brien was born on January 22 1954, and grew up in council homes in Collyhurst and Failsworth, Oldham. From Cardinal Langley Grammar School, Middleton, Greater Manchester, he went up to Liverpool University to read Chemistry. He went on to take a PhD at Cardiff University under Professor RD Gillard on the interaction of metal ions with amino acids. His thesis was dedicated to his parents, Thomas and Maureen.
In 1978 he was appointed lecturer at Chelsea College, London, and in 1984 he moved to Queen Mary College, London where he was promoted to Reader in 1991 and Professor in 1994. In 1995, he became Sumitomo Professor of Materials Science at Imperial College London, and in 1999 moved to the University of Manchester to a joint Professorship between the Schools of Chemistry and Materials which was created for him.
At Manchester, he was Associate Dean for Research, driving the formation of the Dalton Nuclear Institute. As Head of School of Chemistry (2002-9), during the 2005 merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST his optimism, common sense and concern for others was a vital factor in bringing together chemists from two previously competing institutions. From 2011 to 2015 he was Head of School of Materials at Manchester. He retired in July 2018 and was appointed Emeritus Professor.
O’Brien published over 700 widely cited scientific papers and supervised more than 100 PhDs, many from developing countries. He was the editor of book series including Nanoscience Specialist Periodical Reports from the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2013, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Engineering in 2016 and was appointed CBE in 2016. His many awards included the Institute of Materials, Mining, and Minerals’ Platinum Medal 2014 and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Longstaff Prize 2016 A wonderful talker, and a source of endless jokes, he wrote incomprehensible misspelt emails at great speed that were the joy of all recipients. He read voraciously and enjoyed hill-walking, camping with his family, theatre and travel.
In 1979 he married Kym Evans, who survives him.
Professor Paul O’Brien, born January 22 1954, died October 16 2018