Biography
'Gerry'
Pattenden studied at Brunel University (BSc, 1963) and then at Queen
Mary University of London (PhD, 1966), before taking up his first
Lectureship in Chemistry in Cardiff University in 1966. He moved to
Nottingham University as a Lecturer in 1972 and was promoted to
Reader in 1975 and full Professor of Chemistry in 1980. From
1988-2005,Gerry was Sir Jesse Boot Professor and Head of Organic
Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at Nottingham. He was also the
Head of the School of Chemistry over the period 1988-2006, and Pro
Vice- Chancellor ( Vice President ) for Research in the University
from 1997-2003.
Since his
retirement from the Sir Jesse Boot Chair of Organic Chemistry in
2005, Gerry was Research Professor in Chemistry for four years, and
from 2009 he has been Emeritus Professor in Nottingham.
Research
Summary
Throughout his
academic career Gerry's research was driven by his curiosity of the
biosynthesis and biosynthetic interrelationships within families of
natural products, and the desire to design synthesis and synthetic
methods to contribute to our understanding of these relationships.
Inevitably these pursuits involved designing and developing a variety
of new synthetic methods and strategies for organic synthesis,
especially biomimetic synthesis, and taking on the challenges of the
total synthesis of several biologically important natural products.
After 2005 Gerry continued to teach and to carry out original
research in Organic Chemistry in Nottingham for nearly 10 years.
Gerry's research group synthesised more than 120 natural products
and his achievements have been presented in nearly 500 scientific
publications.
“Reflections
on Connections, Inspired by Natural Products“
Soon after Gerry
became Emeritus Professor, he was invited by colleagues in
Nottingham to reflect on his research career in Organic Chemistry
and present a series of lectures in the School. These lectures were
given during 2013 and later Gerry was encouraged to provide a record
by writing up the contents of the lectures for all to see. Thus, in
2015 Gerry presented his personal reflections of his research career
under the title "Reflections on Connections , Inspired by Natural
Products".
Honours and
Awards
Pattenden was
elected to The Royal Society, FRS, in 1991. He has received
numerous medals and awards from The Royal Society of Chemistry
including the Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize (1977), the Simonsen
Medal (1987), the Tilden Medal and Lectureship (1991), the Medal
Award for Synthetic Organic Chemistry (1992), the Medal Award for
Heterocyclic Chemistry (1994), the Pedler Medal and Lectureship
(1995), the Medal Award for Natural Product Chemistry (1997), the
Hugo Muller Medal and Lectureship (2002), the Robert Robinson Medal
and Lectureship (2008) and the Merck Research Medal and Lectureship
(2009). Gerry has given numerous named lecture awards worldwide and
been recipient of the AG Evans Award from the University of Wales
(1995), the Maison de la Chemie Award for Natural Products Synthesis
(2004), the Burbakhsh Singh Award from The Indian Chemical Society
(2004), and the Golden Anniversary Award of The Royal Society of
Chemistry (2007).
In 1999 Pattenden was made an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary
University of London, and in 2015 he was awarded the degree of
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa from the University of
Nottingham.
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