Charles Alfred Coulson (1910-1974), theoretical chemist, was born at Dudley on 13 December 1910. He was educated in Dudley and Bristol before entering Clifton College in 1923. He joined Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1928, where he took the mathematics tripos and Part II of the natural sciences tripos. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1936, and in 1938 became senior lecturer in mathematics at University College, Dundee. Coulson joined the Physical Chemistry Laboratory at Oxford in 1945, and became lecturer in mathematics at University College. He took up the chair of theoretical physics at King's College, London, in 1947, and was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Oxford in 1952. In 1972 he became Oxford's first Professor of Theoretical Chemistry. Coulson died in Oxford on 7 January 1974.
From the guide to the Charles Coulson: Cambridge lecture notes, 1928-1935, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
