Alfred Rene Jean Paul Ubbelohde, 14 December 1907 - 7 January 1988

Some men make it their life’s work to excavate one deep mine of knowledge in one particular field, others scoop shallower pits over a wider area. A.R.J.P. Ubbelohde was an exceptional polymath who dug deeply in many fields and permanently altered our view of their landscapes. He contributed to subjects ranging from chemical thermodynamics, over combustion, explosions and detonations, to ionic melts, graphite and intercalation compounds. He was an enthusiastic farmer with a penchant for intelligent pigs, an expert on Chinese, cloisonne ceramics and other antiques, an authority on literature, wines and a devotee of salmon fishing. He wrote six books (among some 400 publications) and was regarded as a leader in a number of fields of research by diverse groups of workers who were barely aware of his contributions in other areas. His elegant and erudite writings included literary critique, biography and The Marriage of art and science (for the Royal Society of Arts) effortlessly negating C.P. Snow’s concept of “two cultures”. For the biographer it is a curious experience to encounter so many people who believe his main contributions to lie entirely in their own particular fields; very much like writing the memoirs of several men.