Paul F. McMillan

Paul Francis McMillan (3 June 1956 – 2 February 2022) was a British chemist who held the Sir William Ramsay Chair of Chemistry at University College London.^[1] His research considered the study of matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure, with a focus on phase transitions, amorphisation, and the study of glassy states. He has also investigated the survival of bacteria and larger organisms (tardigrades) under extreme compression, studies of amyloid fibrils,^[2] the synthesis and characterisation of carbonitride nanocrystals and the study of water motion in confined environments. He has made extensive use of Raman spectroscopy together with X-ray diffraction and neutron scattering techniques.

Paul Francis McMillan
McMillan in 1977
Born	(1956-06-03)3 June 1956 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	2 February 2022(2022-02-02) (aged 65) London, England
Nationality	British, French
Occupation(s)	Academic and scientist
Scientific career
Fields	Spectroscopy Materials Extreme Conditions
Institutions	University College London, Arizona State University
Thesis	A structural study of aluminosilicate glasses by Raman spectroscopy (1981)
Doctoral advisor	Alexandra Navrotsky, John Holloway
Website	www.ucl.ac.uk/chemistry/people/paul-mcmillan

Early life and education

McMillan was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, and brought up in Loanhead, a small mining and farming village at the base of the Pentland Hills.^[3] He attended Lasswade High School, where he graduated with the Marshall Memorial medal.^[3] He then studied for a bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Edinburgh.^[3] After graduating, McMillan moved to Arizona State University, where he researched geochemistry with John Holloway and Alexandra Navrotsky.^[3] His doctoral research was in using vibrational spectroscopy to investigate the structures of silicate glasses.^[4]

Research and career

McMillan worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Arizona State University, where he installed one of the first micro-beam Raman spectroscopy instruments in the US. He used Raman spectroscopy to study high pressure minerals and materials. He was hired to a teaching position at Arizona State University in 1983, and promoted to Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1993.^[3] He was appointed Director of the Center for Solid State Science in 1997 and was named Presidential Professor of the Sciences.^[3] In 2000 he was awarded the Brunauer Cement Award of American Ceramic Society.^[5] In 2000, McMillan returned to the United Kingdom, where he was made Professor of Solid State Chemistry at University College London, an appointment jointly held with the Royal Institution.^[3] McMillan has also held visiting positions at the Universités of Nantes and Rennes, the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Université Claude Bernard.^{[citation needed]}

McMillan's research involved the exploration of solid state chemistry under extreme high pressure and high temperature conditions using diamond anvil cells.^[6] New compounds and materials are prepared and studied at up to a million atmospheres and thousands of degrees Celsius using spectroscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction.^[7] He studied the properties and structure of liquids, amorphous solids and biological molecules at high pressure.^[6] McMillan has contributed across numerous fields and has published work relating to solid state inorganic/materials chemistry, high pressure-high temperature research,^[8] amorphous solids and liquids,^[9] vibrational spectroscopy,^[10] synchrotron X-ray and neutron scattering, mineral physics, graphitic carbonitrides,^[11] battery materials and the response of bacteria to high pressures.^[12]

In 2015 McMillan was a panellist on Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time on BBC Radio 4.^[13]

Personal life

McMillan died in London on 2 February 2022, at the age of 65.^{[14][15] [16]}

Selected publications

• C. A. Angell; K. L. Ngai; G. B. McKenna; P. F. McMillan; S. W. Martin (15 September 2000). "Relaxation in glassforming liquids and amorphous solids". Journal of Applied Physics. 88 (6): 3113–3157. doi:10.1063/1.1286035. ISSN 0021-8979. Wikidata Q56552594.
• Paul F McMillan (1 September 2002). "New materials from high-pressure experiments". Nature Materials. 1 (1): 19–25. doi:10.1038/NMAT716. ISSN 1476-1122. PMID 12618843. Wikidata Q73082944.
• P. H. Poole; T. Grande; C. A. Angell; P. F. McMillan (17 January 1997). "Polymorphic Phase Transitions in Liquids and Glasses". Science. 275 (5298): 322–323. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.275.5298.322. ISSN 0036-8075. Wikidata Q57567948.