   sir derek harold richard barton frs, frse  (8 september 1918 â 16 march 1998) was an english organic chemist and nobel prize laureate. ==biography== barton was born in gravesend, kent to william thomas and maude henrietta barton (nÃ©e lukes). he attended gravesend grammar school (1926-29), the king's school, rochester (1929-32), tonbridge school (1932-35) and medway technical college (1937-39). in 1938 he entered imperial college london, where he graduated in 1940 and obtained his ph.d. degree in organic chemistry in 1942. from then to 1944 he was a government research chemist, from 1944 to 1945 he was with albright and wilson in birmingham. he then became assistant lecturer in the department of chemistry of imperial college, and from 1946 to 1949 he was ici research fellow. during 1949 and 1950 he was visiting lecturer in the chemistry of natural products, at harvard university, and was then appointed reader in organic chemistry and, in 1953, professor at birkbeck college. in 1955 he became regius professor of chemistry at the university of glasgow, in 1957 he was appointed professor of organic chemistry at imperial college. in 1950, professor barton showed that organic molecules could be assigned a preferred conformation based upon results accumulated by chemical physicists, in particular by odd hassel. using this new technique of conformational analysis, he later determined the geometry of many other natural product molecules. in 1969, barton shared the nobel prize in chemistry with [[odd hassel]
1918_births 1998_deaths Academics_of_Birkbeck,_University_of_London Academics_of_Imperial_College_London Alumni_of_Imperial_College_London British_physical_chemists English_Nobel_laureates Fellows_of_the_American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Sciences Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh Harvard_University_staff Knights_Bachelor Nobel_laureates_in_Chemistry Organic_chemists People_educated_at_King\'s_School,_Rochester People_educated_at_Tonbridge_School People_from_Gravesend,_Kent Recipients_of_the_Copley_Medal Royal_Medal_winners Texas_A&M_University_faculty