Leslie Ernest Sutton

Leslie Ernest Sutton (22 June 1906—30 October 1992) was an English physical chemist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1950 for his "work on molecular structure, especially by the application of electric dipole moments, and interatomic distances measured by electron diffraction."

Early life and education Sutton was born on 22 June 1906 in Isleworth, Middlesex, to Edgar Sutton and Margaret Lilian Winifred Heard. As a youth, he received a Hertfordshire County Scholarship to attend Watford Grammar School for Boys, where he became interested in science and mathematics. He earned distinctions in Chemistry and Pure Mathematics and was encouraged to apply to the University of Oxford. While he was awarded a 60 scholarship at Lincoln College, Oxford, he failed his first responsions test in June 1924 and had to retake it in September. He had originally wished to join Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) but was encouraged to obtain a doctorate first. and the 1933 Meldola Medal and Prize. As a fellow under Pauling from 1933 to 1934, Sutton also discovered how to measure molecular geometry in gaseous molecules by the novel technique of electron diffraction. Robinson noted that Sutton was "eagerly anticipating on his return to Oxford opportunity to stir us anthe and to introduce the new ideas and methods that he has acquired in Pauling's laboratory."

Career In 1936, Sutton was elected to replace Edward Hope as a Fellow and Tutor in chemistry at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1941, Sutton moved from the Dyson Perrins Laboratory for organic chemistry to the new Physical Chemistry Laboratory.

Personal life and death Sutton married Catharine Virginia Stock in 1932 and had three children with her. However, they were separated due to the Second World War, and she died in 1962. Sutton then married Rachel Ann Long in 1963, and they had two sons together before she died in 1987. Sutton died on 30 October 1992, at John Radcliffe Hospital.