Person
Burrows, George Joseph (1888 - 1950)
- Born
- 1888
- Died
- 1950
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Inorganic chemist
Summary
George Burrows was an inorganic chemist who, except for several years at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, during WWI, lectured in chemistry at the University of Sydney between 1910 and 1941. Early research was on corrosion of steel in water, and decomposition of carbamide with colleague Charles Fawsitt. Other collaborative research with University colleagues included the constitution of aluminium complexes (with Ian Wark), and nitroprussides (with Eustace Turner). Much of Burrows's focus was on arsenic compounds: with student Ronald Nyholm he studied the reaction of tertiary arsenines with ferric chlorine. Burrows, with Turner, established the Sydney School of Coordination Chemistry at the University. In 1974 the Coordination and Metalo-Organic Chemistry Division, Royal Australian Chemical Institute, established the Burrows Award in recognition of the major influence Burrows had on the development of coordination chemistry in Australia.
Details
Chronology
- 1910
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney
- 1910 - 1941
- Career position - Lecturer (later Senior Lecturer), Department of Chemistry, University of Sydney
- 1915 - 1919
- Career position - Temporary Lecturer in Chemistry, Royal Military College, Duntroon
- 1940
- Award - Archibald Liversidge Medal and Lecture, Royal Society of New South Wales
- 1941
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Colleague
Published resources
Books
- Burrows, G. J., Organic arsenicals in peace and war (Sydney: Royal Society of New South Wales, 1940), 16 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Baker, Anthony T.; Livingstone, Stanley E., 'The Early History of Co-ordination Chemistry in Australia', Polyhedron, 4 (8) (1985), 1337-1351. Details
- Baker, Anthony Thomas, 'The foundation of the Sydney School of Coordination Chemistry', Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 133 (2000), 45-60. Details
- Burrows, G. J., 'Dissociation of complex cyanides', Journal of the Chemical Society, 123 (1923), 2026-98. Details
- Burrows, G. J. and Fawsitt, C. E., 'Observations on the corrosiopn of steel in water', Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 45 (1911), 67-75. Details
- Burrows, G. J. and Fawsitt, C. E., 'Decomposition of carbamine', Journal of the Chemical Society, 105 (1914), 609-23. Details
- Burrows, G. J. and Turner, E. E., 'Constitution of nitroprussides, I: conductivity and cryoscopic measurements', Journal of the Chemical Society, 115 (1919), 1429-35. Details
- Mellor, D. P., 'The Development of Coordination Chemistry in Australia', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 3 (2) (1976), 29-40. https://www.publish.csiro.au/hr/HR9760320029. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 19 March 2026