Dalziel Hammick

Early life The son of L. S. H. Hammick, Dalziel Hammick was educated at Whitgift School, Magdalen College, Oxford (where he was a demy), and at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He graduated Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences in 1910 and MA in 1921.

At Oxford, he was a Cadet in the university's Officers' Training Corps, and in July 1911, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant for service with the Gresham's School OTC.

Career After some ten years as a schoolmaster at Gresham's and Winchester, in 1920 Hammick was elected to a fellowship of Oriel College, Oxford, where he remained until his death in 1966. For most of his time at Oriel, he was also a lecturer in natural sciences at Corpus Christi College.

His early research was on inorganic substances. He studied sulphur and its compounds and suggested structures for liquid and plastic sulphur. In 1922, he showed that the polymer polyoxymethylene results from the sublimation of trioxymethylene. It was not until the 1960s that this polymer was to be used commercially.

He also translated scientific books from French into English.

Career summary 1906 – 1910: Magdalen College, Oxford (demy) (BA 1910) 1909 – 1910: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München 1910 – 1918: Assistant Master at Gresham's School 1918 – 1920: Assistant Master at Winchester College 1920 – 1966: Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford 1921 – 1958: Lecturer in natural sciences, Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Publications An Introduction to Organic Chemistry by Dalziel Llewellyn Hammick (London, Bell, 1921) Atoms, by Jean Perrin, translated by Dalziel Llewellyn Hammick (London, Constable, 1916, reprinted Ox Bow Press 1990) numerous papers in the Journal of the Chemical Society and the Journal of the American Chemical Society

Private life Hammick married and had a son and two daughters. The family moved into The Grey Cottage, Old Road, Headington, near Oxford, in 1923, which was also the year of the birth of Hammick's younger daughter, Judith. He later adopted his grandson Anthony, Judith's son.

Awards and honours His work was honoured by election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1952.