Background
GRAY, George was born on September 4, 1926 in Edinburgh. Son of John William Gray and Jessie Colville (nee Hunter).
GRAY, George was born on September 4, 1926 in Edinburgh. Son of John William Gray and Jessie Colville (nee Hunter).
Born in Denny, Scotland, Gray was educated at the University of Glasgow and while working as an assistant lecturer at the University College in Hull (then part of the University of London) obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in 1953.
He created and systematised the liquid crystal materials science, and established a method of practical molecular design. He developed his academic career at the college, which became the University of Hull in 1954, from 1946 to 1990. He was appointed senior lecturer in 1960, Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1974, and GF Grant Professor of Chemistry in 1984.
He remained an Emeritus Professor at Hull.
In 1990 he joined the chemical company Merck, then became an independent consultant in 1996. In 1973, in conjunction with the Royal Radar Establishment, he showed that 4-Cyano-4"-pentylbiphenyl possessed a stable nematic phase at room temperature.
This compound and other long-lasting cyano-biphenyls made the twisted nematic display (liquid crystal display) popular. Gray wrote the first English book covering the subject of liquid crystals, "Molecular Structure and Properties of Liquid Crystals", published in 1962.
Gray has been a Director of the International Liquid Crystal Society.
In March 2013, the University of Hull celebrated the 40th anniversary of Gray"s seminal paper being published on 22 March 1973. They had three daughters.
Staff. Department, of Chemistry, University of Hull since 1946, Senior.
Married Marjorie Mary Canavan.