Professors Michael Lappert (left) and Jeffery Leigh received honorary degrees from the University of Murcia at a ceremony in April 2013.

A Spanish university has awarded honorary degrees to two emeritus chemistry professors from the University of Sussex.

Professors Michael Lappert (left) and Jeffery Leigh received their honorary degrees at a ceremony at the University of Murcia on 29 April.

The citation for Professor Lappert stated that the award was in recognition of “his ground-breaking researches in the fields of organometallic chemistry and inorganic chemistry”.

In his career Professor Lappert set out to enhance the thermal stability of new compounds by introducing bulky silicon-containing groups, and it was one of his ambitions to cover derivatives of all the 90 or so natural elements. By the time he retired he had made compounds of all except beryllium and the rare gases.

Professor Leigh’s degree was awarded “for his outstanding professional and personal career and his exceptional contributions in the area of bioinorganic and coordination biochemistry and especially the chemistry of nitrogen fixation”.

In his talk, delivered in fluent Spanish, Professor Leigh discussed the history of the techniques of restoration of soil fertility, the realisation that natural organisms can fix nitrogen, the recognition that metal atoms are involved in the natural process, and the work done in the Unit of Nitrogen Fixation at Sussex.

Professors Lappert and Leigh were jointly nominated by Professor Gabriel Garcia Sanchez, who worked with Professor Lappert at Sussex, and Professor Maria Dolores Santana, who worked with Professor Leigh. Both are now professors at the University of Murcia.

Several other Sussex chemistry students and postdoctoral workers hold chairs in Spain and some of them went to Murcia for the degree ceremony.

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