Hazel Rossotti

Dr
Hazel Rossotti
Born
Hazel Marsh

(1930-02-01)1 February 1930
Died24 December 2023(2023-12-24) (aged 93)
EducationMillfield School
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Known forChemistry; popular science writing
SpouseFrancis Rossotti (1927–2019)
Scientific career
Thesis Some investigations of organic reagents for metals  (1954)
Doctoral advisorRobert Williams

Hazel Rossotti (1 February 1930 – 24 December 2023) was a British chemist and science writer.[1]

Early life and education

Rossotti (née Marsh) left Millfield School in 1948 and completed her undergraduate and PhD at the University of Oxford.[2][3][4] Her research considered the stability of metal-ion complexes, and she worked under the supervision of Robert Williams.[5][6][7] In 1952 she married fellow chemist Francis Rossotti, a fellow graduate student, at St Peter-in-the-East, now part of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.[8]

Career

In 1962 Rossotti was appointed a Fellow and Tutor in chemistry at St Anne's College, Oxford, and retired in 1997.[9] She was an advisor to Mary Archer, and an Emeritus Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford.[10]

Rossotti held a long-standing passion for photography, and became known as an accomplished photographer.[11] She specialised in black and white portraits, often of scientists and other colleagues.[12] In 1974, Rossotti nominated French artist and photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson for an honorary doctorate at the University of Oxford. To mark this award, Cartier-Bresson gifted Rossotti a silver gelatine print of a 1938 photograph of 'Sunday on the Banks of the River Seine'. This print is now held in the Bodleian libraries.[13] In 1997, Rossotti designed and made the stained glass panels in the library building, Hartland house.[14]

Books

Rossotti published numerous science books, on diverse topics from chemistry to colour, fire and Greece. Oliver Sacks remarked that Rossotti was a born teacher and writer, 'incapable of writing a dull word'.[15]

  • 1969 - Chemical Applications of Potentiometry[16]
  • 1970 - H2O[17]
  • 1971 - Metals[18]
  • 1975 - Air[19]
  • 1975 - Introducing Chemistry[20]
  • 1978 - Study of Ionic Equilibria[21]
  • 1985 - Why the World Isn't Grey[22]
  • 1993 - Fire[23]
  • 1998 - Diverse Atoms[24]
  • 2006 - Chemistry in the Schoolroom: 1806[25][26]

References

  1. ^ https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/dr-hazel-rossotti-1930-2023/
  2. ^ Davies, John, ed. (2012). "Distinguished Old Millfieldians". Old Millfieldian Society Chronicle: 12. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  3. ^ "Chemistry in the Schoolroom: 1806". www.authorhouse.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  4. ^ Griffin, Penny (30 June 1986). St Hugh?s: One Hundred Years of Women?s Education in Oxford. Griffin, Penny. London. p. 240. ISBN 9781349077250. OCLC 1004389700.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Hill, H. A. O.; Thomson, A. J. (24 August 2016). "Robert Joseph Paton Williams MBE. 25 February 1926 — 21 March 2015". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 62: 541–570. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2016.0020. ISSN 0080-4606.
  6. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (2 September 2010). "Some relationships among the stabilities of metal complexes". Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas. 75 (7): 763–768. doi:10.1002/recl.19560750707. ISSN 0165-0513.
  7. ^ Brewer, Leo (18 May 1962). "The Determination of Stability Constants and Other Equilibrium Constants in Solution. Francis J. C. Rossotti and Hazel Rossotti. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1961. xiv + 425 pp. $12.50". Science. 136 (3516): 643–644. doi:10.1126/science.136.3516.643. ISSN 0036-8075. S2CID 95255460.
  8. ^ "St Hugh's College, Oxford - Chronicle 1952-1953". Issuu. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  9. ^ "The Ship" (PDF). St Anne's College, Oxford. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  10. ^ "St Anne's College, Oxford > About the College > Emeritus, Honorary, & Supernumerary and Senior Research Fellows". www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  11. ^ "One Hundred Years of Engineering Science at Oxford, 1908-2008". www.soue.org.uk.
  12. ^ Perks2014-12-23T00:00:00+00:00, Bea. "Goodenough rules". Chemistry World.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Collection: Silver gelatine print by Henri Cartier-Bresson and associated documents | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts". archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
  14. ^ "What's in a name? | St Anne's College, Oxford". 14 December 2023.
  15. ^ https://www.npr.org/2010/12/09/131936824/oliver-sacks-on-his-burning-love-of-fire
  16. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1969). Chemical applications of potentiometry. London: Van Nostrand. ISBN 978-0442070489. OCLC 36088.
  17. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1970). H2O. Pugh, Margaret. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199180059. OCLC 30273177.
  18. ^ "Metals :: Hazel Rossotti :: ISBN 0199180091 :: Oxford University Press 1971 :: OBNB, the Open British National Bibliography". obnb.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  19. ^ Rossotti, Hazel; Phillips, Douglas; Dear, Brian; Dear, Constance (1973). Air. London [etc.] : Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199180264.
  20. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1975). Introducing chemistry. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 978-0140218640. OCLC 2020201.
  21. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1978). The study of ionic equilibria : an introduction. London: Longman. ISBN 978-0582441750. OCLC 3517031.
  22. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1984) [1983]. Colour. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691083698. OCLC 10778491.
  23. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1993). Fire. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198557227. OCLC 26163110.
  24. ^ Rossotti, Hazel (1998). Diverse atoms : profiles of the chemical elements. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198558156. OCLC 37254363.
  25. ^ Marcet, Jane Haldimand (2006). Chemistry in the schoolroom, 1806 : selections from Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on chemistry. Rossotti, Hazel. Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1425905347. OCLC 70139772.
  26. ^ "The woman that inspired Faraday". Chemistry World. Retrieved 30 May 2018.