Sir John Philip Baxter
BAXTER, Sir JOHN PHILIP (1905-1989), chemical engineer and vice-chancellor, was born on 7 May 1905 in Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, Wales, younger child of John Baxter, a post-office engineer, and his wife Mary Netta, née Morton. After moving with his family to England, Philip attended Hereford High School for Boys. He passed the Northern Universities’ matriculation exam at age 14 and that of the University of London at age 16. Entering the University of Birmingham (B.Sc., 1925; M.Sc., 1926; Ph.D., 1928), he gained first-class honours in chemistry and was awarded the James Watt research fellowship. His Ph.D. thesis, on the combustion of carbonic oxide, was supervised by Professor F. H. Burstall. Baxter’s degrees gave him professional standing as a chemical engineer, there being at that time no separate university courses in that field.
On Burstall’s recommendation, Baxter joined Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd and began work as ...
Read more at the source websiteSource:
Australian Dictionary of Biography