John Read (1884-1963) was trained under Raphael Meldola and the great stereo-chemist Alfred Werner, later working in collaboration with Sir William Pope in Cambridge. He held the Chair of Pure and Applied Organic Chemistry in Sydney, Australia from 1916-23 during which period he investigated eucalyptus oils. He was elected to the Chair of Chemistry in St Andrews in 1923 and continued to research the stereochemistry of the monocyclic terpenes. He was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1935. He was well known for his interesting and lucid lectures, many well illustrated.
His academic works included Direct Entry to Organic Chemistry (London, 1948) which won the first Cortina prize in 1949 and Textbook of Organic Chemistry: historical, structural and economic (London, 1926 and 1958). He was as well known for his writings on the historical and lighter aspects of alchemy and chemistry such as: Prelude to Chemistry: an outline of alchemy, its literature and relationships (London, 1936), The Alchemist in Life, Literature and Art (London, 1947), Humour and Humanism in Chemistry (London, 1947) and Through Alchemy to Chemistry, a procession of ideas and personalities (London, 1957). The illustrations for these books are largely drawn from the superb collection of alchemical and historical works he amassed for his Department. He still held his chair at his death on 21 January 1963.
From the guide to the Professor John Read photographic collection, [?1900]-1963, (University of St Andrews)
