Ronald Gillespie
Ronald James Gillespie, CM FRSC FRS[1]
(August 21, 1924 – February 26, 2021)[2] was a
Ronald Gillespie
FRS FRSC CM
British chemist specializing in the field of
molecular geometry, who arrived in Canada after
accepting an offer that included his own
laboratory with new equipment, which post-World
War II Britain could not provide. He was
responsible for establishing inorganic chemistry
education in Canada.
He was educated at the University of London
obtaining a B.Sc. in 1945, a Ph.D. in 1949 and a
D.Sc. in 1957. He was assistant lecturer and then
lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at
University College London in England from 1950
to 1958.
Born Ronald James Gillespie
He moved to McMaster University, Hamilton,
21 August 1924
Ontario, Canada, in 1958, dying on February 26,
London, United Kingdom
2021, at the age of ninety-six in the nearby town
of Dundas, Ontario. He was elected as a Fellow of Died 26 February 2021 (aged 96)
the Royal Society of Canada in 1965, a Fellow of Dundas, Ontario, Canada
the Royal Society of London in 1977, and made a Alma mater University College London
member of the Order of Canada in 2007.[3] Known for VSEPR Theory
Gillespie did extensive work on expanding the Awards Fellow of the Royal Institute of
idea of the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion Chemistry (1953)
(VSEPR) model of Molecular Geometry, which Fellow of the Chemical Institute of
he developed with Ronald Nyholm (and thus is Canada (1960)
also known as the Gillespie-Nyholm theory), and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
setting the rules for assigning numbers. He has (1965)
written several books on this VSEPR topic in Keith Laidler Award (1966)
chemistry. With other workers he developed LCP
Canadian Centennial Medal (1967)
theory, (ligand close packing theory), which for
some molecules allows geometry to be predicted CIC Award for Chemical Education
(1976)
on the basis of ligand-ligand repulsions. Gillespie
has also done extensive work on interpreting the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee
covalent radius of fluorine. The covalent radius of Medal (1977)
most atoms is found by taking half the length of a Chemical Institute of Canada Medal
single bond between two similar atoms in a (1977)
neutral molecule. Calculating the covalent radius Fellow of the Royal Society (1977)
for fluorine is more difficult because of its high Henry Marshall Tory Medal (1983)
electronegativity compared to its small atomic Order of Canada (2007)
radius size. Gillespie's work on the bond length of Scientific career
fluorine focuses on theoretically determining the
Fields Chemistry
covalent radius of fluorine by examining its
covalent radius when it is attached to several Institutions University College London
different atoms.[4] McMaster University
Thesis Cryoscopic studied in sulphuric and
nitric acids (https://ucl-new-primo.host
Publications ed.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/5qfvb
u/UCL_LMS_DS2111684227000476
Chemical Bonding and Molecular 1) (1949)
Geometry: From Lewis to Electron Doctoral Sir Christopher Ingold
Densities (Topics in Inorganic Chemistry)
advisor
by Ronald J. Gillespie and Paul L. A.
Popelier[5] Website https://chemistry.mcmaster.ca/gillespie/
Atoms, Molecules and Reactions: An
Introduction to Chemistry by Ronald J. Gillespie
Chemistry by Ronald J. Gillespie, David Humphreys, Colin Baird, and E. A. Robinson
Atoms, Molecules and Reactions: An Introduction to Chemistry with D.A. Humphreys, E.A.
Robinson and D.R. Eaton, Prentice Hall, 1994
References
1. Davies, Alwyn G. (2023). "Ronald James Gillespie. 21 August 1924—20 February 2021" (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsbm.2023.0001). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal
Society. 75: 129–147. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2023.0001 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsbm.2023.
0001). S2CID 258439418 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:258439418).
2. "Ronald Gillespie Obituary - Dundas, ON" (https://www.dignitymemorial.com/en-ca/obituarie
s/dundas-on/ronald-gillespie-10076356). Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
3. Order of Canada citation (http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?
lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=10558)
4. E. A. Robinson (2000). "The career and scientific work of Ronald J. Gillespie: an
appreciation and overview". Coord. Chem. Rev. 197 (1): 3–19. doi:10.1016/S0010-
8545(99)00187-3 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0010-8545%2899%2900187-3).
5. Rabinovich, Daniel (2003). "Review: Chemical Bonding and Molecular Geometry by
Gillespie & Popelier" (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fed080p31). J. Chem. Educ. 80 (1): 31.
doi:10.1021/ed080p31 (https://doi.org/10.1021%2Fed080p31).
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