Kenner, George

Kenner, George Wallace (pp. 24, 81, Plate 27). Born 1922. Graduated in Chemistry, University of Manchester, 1939. His early research was with A.R. Todd at Manchester and then at Cambridge, on purine and pyrimidine chemistry and the synthesis of nucleosides. In 1957 appointed Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Liverpool. Elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1964. Just before his death in 1978 he was appointed a Royal Society Research Professor, holding his appointment at Liverpool. 

First, there is my wife, Barbara, and my children, Daniel, Katy, and Amy, who bravely supported me and put up with my late nights (and subsequent bad temper), while writing this book. Then, there are my parents who, in more ways than one, provided me with the tools to do the job. Finally, there are my sadly deceased first and second mentors. Professor George Kenner (who sparked off my interest in porphyrins) and Dr John Dalton (who rekindled the flame). I think the following quote from J.R.R. Tolkien s Lord of the Rings sums it up best. 

Gregory and Tracy were fortunate in their chemist colleagues, for George W. Kenner, a Manchester- and Cambridge-trained peptide chemist of international renown, was head of Liverpool s department of organic chemistry. As soon as Gregory and Tracy knew they could isolate gastrin, Kenner promised to cooperate with them. 

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