Geoffrey Coates

Geoffrey Edward Coates (14 May 1917 – 10 January 2013) was a British organometallic chemist and academic. He was an accomplished organometallic chemist.

During his career, he was a professor at Durham University, the University of Bristol, and head of the chemistry department at the University of Wyoming. Coates is known for contributions to the organometallic chemistry of beryllium, as well as authorship of the seminal textbook Organometallic Compounds. He also co-authored a paper with his father, Joseph E. Coates, on the dielectric constant of hydrogen cyanide.

War years During World War II, Coates worked in the research department of the Magnesium Metal Corporation in Swansea. a determination of the standard electrode potential of magnesium and studies on the acid and alkaline corrosion of magnesium and its alloys.

Post-war career In 1945, Coates accepted a lecturer position in inorganic chemistry at the University of Bristol, At Bristol, Coates shifted his research focus towards inorganic and organometallic chemistry, publishing on dimethylberyllium and its reactivity with Lewis bases, and the reactivity of trimethylgallium. Beginning in 1953, Coates was Professor of Chemistry and later Departmental Chairman at the Durham University. During the next 15 years, Coates transformed a small, fragmented department with few facilities for research and teaching laboratories in assorted buildings, into a diverse and highly productive department housed in a modern building he designed, staffed and equipped. As of 2021, Durham University's chemistry department ranks in the top five in the U.K., according to the Complete University Guide.

In 1958, Coates was asked by Methuen Publishing to write a monograph on organometallic compounds.

University of Wyoming In 1968, Coates assumed the role as Head of the Chemistry Department at the University of Wyoming. He died at home in Laramie, Wyoming, on January 10, 2013, at age 95.