Dyson Perrins Laboratory

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The Dyson Perrins Laboratory was the main centre for research into organic chemistry of Oxford University from its foundation in 1916 until its retirement as a laboratory in 2003. It was founded with an endowment from Charles Dyson Perrins, heir to the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce company.

The heads of the laboratory were the four consecutive Waynflete Professors of Chemistry:

  1. William Henry Perkin, Jr., from 1912 to 1929;
  2. Sir Robert Robinson, from 1930 to 1954. Nobel Prize winner, 1947;
  3. Sir Ewart Jones, from 1954 to 1978;
  4. Sir Jack Baldwin, from 1978 to 2003.

During its 87 year working life, the laboratory had an extremely distinguished career; it can claim a stake in shaping the scientific careers of two Nobel Laureates, namely Lord Todd (1957) and Sir John W. Cornforth (1975) who passed their formative years as young chemists in the laboratories.

The building is now used for teaching; all research in organic chemistry at Oxford is now conducted across South Parks Road at the University's state-of-the-art Chemistry Research Laboratory. The majority of the building has been handed over to the Oxford University Geography Department for the establishment of the Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE).

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