Doctoral advisor Robert D. Gillard | ||
Born 22 January 1954 (age 63) ( 1954-01-22 ) Fields Inorganic chemistryMaterials science Doctoral students Ahmed AbdelhadyKhadijat AbdulwahabJaveed AkhtarYousef AlghamdiEnteisar Al-BrasiDavid CantAlexander LockettAkhtar MasoodTemidayo OyetundeAmber PearceKatayune PreslandKarthik Ramasamy People also search for Enteisar Al-Brasi, Yousef Alghamdi | ||
Paul O'Brien (born 22 January 1954) CBE FREng FRS is Professor of Inorganic Materials at the University of Manchester. where he has served as head of the School of Chemistry from 2004 to 2009 and head of the School of Materials from 2011 to 2015.
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Education
O'Brien was educated at Cardinal Langley Grammar School in Middleton, Greater Manchester and the University of Liverpool where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975. He went on to complete a PhD at University College, Cardiff in 1978 with a thesis on the catalysis of the racemization of amino acids supervised by Robert D. Gillard.
Research
O’Brien is an inorganic materials scientist focusing on developing new chemical processes for manufacturing thin films and nanoparticles. Amongst these are chemical vapour deposition techniques for compounds containing sulfur or selenium, and a very simple method for making quantum dots — semiconductor nanocrystals that show quantum behaviour.
He has collaborated on projects with physicists, computer scientists and electronic and electrical engineers. His interest in the toxicity of metal ions has led to collaborations and publications with toxicologists, pharmacists and clinicians. He is an advocate of communicating science to a wider audience and gives popular talks — usually on nanotechnology — including Café Scientifique and school lectures. He has edited several books, including a series on nanotechnology for the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He has supervised numerous successful PhD students.
Awards and honours
O'Brien's awards include the Kroll Award, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3)’s Sir Colin Humphreys Award (for outreach) and Platinum Medal, the Society of Dyers and Colourists (SDC) Gold Medal, the RSC’s first Peter Day Award, and honorary degrees from the University of Zululand, the University of Liverpool and the University of Aveiro. O'Brien was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2013, his certificate of election reads:
O'Brien was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to science and engineering and elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in the same year.