Neil Kensington Adam

Neil Kensington Adam FRS, FRIC (5 November 1891 – 19 July 1973) was a British chemist.^[1]

Neil Kensington Adam
Adam in June 1935.
Born	(1891-11-05)5 November 1891 Cambridge, England
Died	19 July 1973(1973-07-19) (aged 81) Southampton, England
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Awards	Fellow of the Royal Society[1]
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Sheffield University College London University of Southampton University of Cambridge

Education

Adam was born in Cambridge, the first of three children of James Adam (1860–1907), a Classics don,^[2] and his classicist wife Adela Marion (née Kensington) (1866–1944).^[1] His sister Barbara was a noted sociologist and criminologist, while his brother Captain Arthur Innes Adam was killed in France on 16 September 1916.^[3] His maternal uncle was Sir Alfred Kensington, a judge in the Chief Court of the Punjab.

Adam was educated at Winchester College, and then studied chemistry at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he later became a fellow (1915–1923).^[4] He graduated BA in 1913, received his MA in 1919, and Sc.D in 1928.^[1]

Career

During the First World War, he served at the Royal Naval Air Service airship station at Kingsnorth, Kent, working on problems associated with rubber-proofing fabric for airships, and other chemical problems.^[1]

Adam was Sorby Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield from 1921 to 1929,^[4] then a Research Associate (1930–1936) and Lecturer (1936–1937) at University College London.^[5] He was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Southampton from 1937 until 1957.^[4]

Personal life

Adam was married to Winifred Wright;^[1] they were active Christian Scientists.^[6] Adam died, aged 81, in Southampton.^[1]

Publications

• Adam, N. K. (1930). The Physics and Chemistry of Surfaces. London: Oxford University Press.
• Adam, N. K. (1956). Physical Chemistry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.