Dalziel Llewellyn Hammick FRS (8 March 1887, West Norwood, London, England – 17 October 1966) was an English research chemist. His major work was in synthetic organic chemistry. Along with Walter Illingworth he promulgated the Hammick-Illingworth rule, which predicts the order of substitution in benzene derivatives. He also developed the Hammick reaction which generates ortho-substituted pyridines.D. L. Hammick at cartage.org The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists: Chemists. ed. David Abbott (Peter Bedrick Books, New York, 1983)
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.'HAMMICK, Dalziel Llewellyn', in The Provosts and Fellows of Oriel College (1922)
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.The Times, Wednesday, 26 July 1911; pg. 15; Issue 39647; col. C
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.Memories of the 1920s and 1930s: Judith Hammick at headington.org.uk (accessed 21 June 2008)
Awards and honours His work was honoured by election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1952.
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