ABSTRACT

After a successful period at Cornell University, Paul Flory sought an opportunity to devote himself entirely to science on sabbatical leave. In 1953, his friend Geoffrey Gee (1910-1996) became professor of physical chemistry at the Victoria University of Manchester (Figure 10.1). This proved to be a great place to grow as a scientist. Paul Flory’s sabbatical year was aided by a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. Gee himself had attended Manchester as an undergraduate and as a graduate student. He worked with D.C. Henry, the director of the Thomas Graham Colloid Research Laboratory, on electrocapillarity and received an MSc in 1933. Times were tough and Gee accepted a job with Imperial Chemical Industries. They immediately seconded him to Cambridge to work with Sir Eric Rideal (1890-1974). He was awarded the PhD in 1936. Another collaborator in the Cambridge period was Sir Harry Melville (1908-2000). Gee’s background in physical and physical organic chemistry could not have been better.