Harry Julius Emeléus, C. B. E., 22 June 1903 - 2 December 1993

Harry Emeléus had a profound impact on the development of inorganic chemistry in Britain and a lasting influence on the approach to the subject by countless research students from the UK, the Commonwealth, America and Europe. His seminal book Modern Aspects of Inorganic Chemistry (1938), conceived and written with his colleague J.S. Anderson when they were both junior members of the staff at Imperial College, London, presented the subject in an entirely new and exciting way. Indeed, it revived interest in an area of chemistry that had almost completely disappeared as an undergraduate and research field in the U.K. Subsequently, in Cambridge, Emeléus built up an internationally acclaimed school of inorganic chemistry which dominated the subject for several decades. An astonishing number of his research students and collaborators went on to distinguished careers and to senior academic positions both in Britain and abroad. He is remembered by them with great affection and respect, and most trace their subsequent achievements to the lessons learnt during their time in his laboratory.