Lennard-Jones is well-known among scientists for his work on molecular structure, valency and intermolecular forces. Much research of these topics over several decades grew from a paper he published in 1929. His theories of liquids and of surface catalysis also remain influential. He wrote few, albeit influential, papers.
His main interest was of atomic and molecular structure, especially the forces between atomic particles, the nature of chemical bonds and such basic matters as why water expands when it freezes. Holding the first Chair of Theoretical Chemistry in the United Kingdom, he established a research school applying to phenomena in physics and organic chemistry new concepts of quantum mechanics and the interactions of subatomic particles. The department attracted many notable scientists and mathematicians, including S.F. Boys, C.A. Coulson, G.G. Hall, A. Hurley, and J. Pople.
Atoms of a noble gas interact via a potential in which an attracting van der Waals force balances a repelling force which results from overlapping electron orbits. A well known approximation to this potential is the so-called Lennard-Jones potential, a description of the potential energy as a function of the separation of the atoms. Also named after him, the Lennard-Jones Laboratory houses the School of Chemistry and Physics at Keele University. The Royal Society of Chemistry awards a Lennard-Jones Medal and hosts the Lennard-Jones lecture each year.
Keele University holds a collection of Lennard-Jones's published work, as well as a laboratory named in his honour. Professor C.A. Coulson’s collected lecture notes from 1928–1932, held in the University of Cambridge Library, record Lennard-Jones's lectures. Coulson wrote 'I suspect that these are the first lectures on theoretical chemistry (or perhaps more accurately quantum chemistry) that had been given in Britain'. Lennard-Jones’s private papers are held at Churchill Archives Centre, in Cambridge.
John Edward Jones married Kathleen Lennard in 1926, adding his new wife's surname to his own to become Lennard-Jones. They had two children, John and Mary.
Summary of key biographical dates
1894 Born in Leigh, Lancashire, as John Edward Jones, and educated at Leigh Grammar School where he specialised in classics.
1919–22 Studies for Doctor of Science degree and lectures in Mathematics at Manchester University.
1922 Receives Doctor of Science degree at Manchester
1922–4 Research student with a Senior 1851 Exhibition at Trinity College, Cambridge, supervised by Ralph H. Fowler. Sydney Chapman, then Professor of Mathematics at Manchester, had been a Lecturer at Trinity in 1914, and advised Jones to apply there.
1924 Receives Doctor of Science degree at Cambridge. Proposes a semi-empirical interatomic force law.
1925 Marries Kathleen Lennard, adding his wife's surname to his own to become Lennard-Jones.
1930–2 Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Bristol
1931 Paper introduces method for the atomic Self-Consistent Field (SCF) equations. Proposes the Lennard-Jones potential.
1932–53 John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Cambridge. Founded the theoretical chemistry section of Cambridge University Chemical Laboratory.
1934 Paper applies group theory to explain energies & structures of hydrocarbon free radicals
1937 First Director of University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory (now the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge) with Maurice Wilkes as researcher.
1939 At outbreak of war, seconded as Chief Superintendent of Armament Research to the Ministry of Supply which took over the mathematical laboratory for ballistics calculations, developed a team of mathematicians for this purpose.
1942–5 Director-General of Scientific Research (Defence), Ministry of Supply
1942–7 Member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
1946 Knighted (KBE), returns to Cambridge
1947–53 Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council at the Ministry of Supply
1949 Paper justifies use of diatomic orbitals only for valence electrons by showing the determinantal wave function to be invariant under unitary transformations that could accurately transform molecular orbitals into localized equivalent orbitals.
1953 Awarded Royal Society's Davy Medal for work applying quantum mechanics to the theory of valency and analysis of the structure of chemical compounds
1953 Succeeds Alexander Lindsay as Principal of the University College of North Staffordshire (now Keele University). Corresponds with Linus Pauling about the need in England for more universities and institutes of technology.
