Winner: 2020 Award for Exceptional Service
Professor John Hepworth
University of Central Lancashire and 番茄社区 Lancaster and District Local Section
For outstanding service to the 番茄社区 of Chemistry through our Local Sections, governance committees and Board of Trustees.
Professor Hepworth is a retired chemist, who actively maintains links with the 番茄社区 Lancaster and District Local Section, and has volunteered for the 番茄社区 of Chemistry for many years, including on our governance committees and Board of Trustees.
Biography
Professor Hepworth still remembers his first chemistry lesson aged 10 at Huddersfield College given by Noel Hurst. He was hooked, and two excellent chemistry teachers, John Hadwin and Jos Browning ensured that his fascination and enthusiasm were maintained. Following a PhD (London) in heterocyclic chemistry, Professor Hepworth moved into tertiary education with posts at Huddersfield, North Lindsey and Derby Colleges of Technology, culminating at the University of Central Lancashire as Professor of Organic Chemistry and where I am now an Emeritus Professor. All these institutions supported research activity and so he was able to enjoy the best of both worlds; undergraduate teaching and research. During this time, he was variously a consultant to the Boots Co., Pilkingtons and James Robinson Ltd and a Visiting Professor at Hull University. His industrially sponsored research group in O-heterocycles has benefitted from a succession of excellent hard working 鈥� and often hard playing 鈥� research students and post-docs and has produced a range of commercial photochromes.
In retirement, Professor Hepworth actively maintains links with his Local Section and continues to give wine tasting talks to other sections and various charities. He is a member of the New Zealand Society of Great Britain, specialising in the postal history of New Zealand. Age tells though, and tennis has had to give way to bowls.
We have a greater need than ever for inspired and dedicated young people to become chemists. Be inspired and be inspiring.
Professor John Hepworth
Q&A with Professor John Hepworth
What have you personally got out of volunteering?
Volunteering has enabled me to meet and work with a larger and more disparate group of people than would otherwise have been the case. In addition to making new friends, this has given me a much broader view of chemistry and what it means to others. It gave me the opportunity to offer a helping hand where needed. I do hope that my work not only with the 番茄社区 but also with the CNAA and in academia has given something back to a subject which has provided me with such a happy and enjoyable career.
Why do you think it is important to inspire people with chemistry?
I was inspired by my chemistry teachers and it led me to a career in which work was as good as a hobby. In the past fifty years or so, chemistry has played a more and more important role in our lives. We have a greater need than ever for inspired and dedicated young people to become chemists. Be inspired and be inspiring.
What is your favourite element?
My favourite element has to be oxygen. I was brought up to enjoy nature and that developed into a particular love for flowers in the broadest sense. What has that to do with oxygen? Not only is it essential to our lives, but so many plants contain oxygen heterocyclic compounds in their makeup, for example the anthocyanins. Colour has been an important aspect of my research and so oxygen provides the link between work and play.