J. Steven (Steve) Ogden 1942-2011
Steve obtained a Ph.D. (1967) for research supervised by Prof. J.J. Turner FRS at Cambridge University. After post doctoral positions at the ICL Oxford University, (associated with St Catherine’s College) 1967-1974, he was appointed to a lectureship in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Southampton in 1975, and retired as Reader in Inorganic Chemistry in 2008.
Steve was internationally known and highly respected for his research on high temperature and vapour phase molecules and reactive intermediates in the gas phase, using vibrational spectroscopy and matrix-isolation techniques, and for his application of isotope fine structure patterns to aid identification and determine the shapes of matrix isolated species.
He published in excess of 150 research papers and also a undergraduate teaching text, “Introduction to Molecular Symmetry” (OUP 2001). His fundamental contributions to matrix isolation research were recognised by the award of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize in 1977 and a D.Sc by Cambridge University in 2005.