Geoffrey Wilkinson
The house where I was born and indeed most of the village has been demolished by the local council as being unfit for habitation.
My first introduction to chemistry came at a quite early age through my mother's elder brother.
My father, and his father, also Geoffrey, were both master house painters and decorators, the latter, youngest of twelve children having migrated from Boroughbridge in Yorkshire about 1880.
I used to play around in their small laboratory as well as go with my uncle on visits to various chemical companies.
I began to return to my first interest as a student - transition metal complexes such as carbonyls and olefin complexes.