David King (chemist)

Sir David Anthony King, FRS HonFREng is an Emeritus Professor in Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Collegio Carlo Alberto, Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and a senior scientific adviser to UBS. He currently serves as the Foreign Secretarys Special Representative for Climate Change and Chairman of the Future Cities Catapult.

He was born in South Africa in 1939, and after an early career at the University of Witwatersrand, Imperial College and the University of East Anglia, King became the Brunner Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Liverpool in 1974. He was a member of the National Executive, Association of University Teachers , 197078, and president 197677. In 1988 he was appointed 1920 Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and subsequently became Master of Downing College and Head of the University Chemistry Department . During this time, King, together with Gabor Somorjai and Gerhard Ertl, shaped the discipline of surface science and helped to explain the underlying principles of heterogeneous catalysis. However, the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Ertl alone. From 2008 to 2012 he was Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford.

Source: Wikipedia