'''Sir Robert Howson Pickard''' FRS (27 September 1874 – 18 October 1949) was a chemist who did pioneering work in stereochemistry and also for the cotton industry in Lancashire. He was also involved in educational administration and was Vice Chancellor of the University of London from 1937-1939.<ref name ="OxDicNatBio">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35524 Joseph Kenyon: ''Pickard, Sir Robert Howson (1874–1949)'' (revd K D Watson) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 25 Aug 2012]</ref> He was Principal of Battersea Polytechnic (which later became the University of Surrey) from 1920 to 1927.<ref name="surrey.ac.uk">{{Cite web |url=http://www.surrey.ac.uk/files/pdf/CHAPTER%204.PDF |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-02-16 |archive-date=2015-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216052455/http://www.surrey.ac.uk/files/pdf/CHAPTER%204.PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Early life== [[Image:Mason Science College.png|thumb|right|Mason Science College, now the University of Birmingham]] He was born in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, Warwickshire, (now the West Midlands), England,<ref name ="OxDicNatBio"/> the son of Joseph Henry Pickard, a toolmaker, and Alice his wife, the daughter of Robert Howson of Birmingham.<ref name ="JSTOR">[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/768791?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101173480877 JSTOR - ''Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society'', 1950, accessed 27 August 2012]</ref> From 1883 to 1891,<ref name ="JSTOR"/> he attended King Edward VI's Grammar School. In 1891, he studied chemistry at Mason Science College (which later became the University of Birmingham), under Percy F. Frankland and obtained a first class B.Sc., then awarded by the University of London. In 1896, he attended the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München as an 1851 Exhibitioner<ref name ="JSTOR"/> being awarded a PhD ''summa cum laude'' in 1898.<ref name ="OxDicNatBio"/>
==Career== After a year in Birmingham doing chemical research, he was appointed head of the chemistry at Blackburn Technical School in Blackburn, Lancashire and was principal from 1908-1920. While at Blackburn was involved in publication of 35 papers in the Journal of the Chemical Society. He did original work on chemical structure and optical isomerism and as a result became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1917. Pickard was Principal of Battersea Polytechnic (which later became the University of Surrey) from 1920 to 1927.<ref name="surrey.ac.uk"/>
He was also consulted by the cotton industry and later became director of the British Cotton Industry Research Association (then the Shirley Institute) in Manchester from 1927 to 1943, and expanded the technical facilities extensively in 1936.<ref name ="OxDicNatBio"/>
He had considerable organisational skills and was active in several scientific organisations including the Royal Society (council); Society of Chemical Industry (president 1932-33); the Royal Institute of Chemistry<ref>[http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/History/rscpresidents/RIC1877to1939.asp RIC presidents list]. Accessed 27 August 2012.</ref> (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) (president 1936-1939); the Chemical Society (vice-president); the now defunct [http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/RemovedCharityMain.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=214247&SubsidiaryNumber=0 Chemical Council] (chairman) and various positions over a long period with the University of London including Vice-Chancellor, 1937-1939.<ref name ="OxDicNatBio"/>
==Personal life== He married Ethel Marian Wood in 1901. She died in 1944. They had a daughter, who predeceased her father, and a son. He died at his son's home in Headley, Surrey.<ref name ="OxDicNatBio"/>
==See also== * List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London * List of British university chancellors and vice-chancellors
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{start box}} {{s-aca}} {{Succession box | before = Sir Herbert Lightfoot Eason CMG CB | title = Vice-Chancellor of the<br />University of London | years = 1937-1939 | after = Professor Frank Horton FRS }}
{{end box}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickard, Sir Robert Howson}} Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of London Category:English chemists Category:Alumni of University of London Worldwide Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham Category:LMU Munich alumni Category:People associated with the University of Surrey Category:People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham Category:Scientists from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:1874 births Category:1949 deaths Category:Stereochemists Category:British fellows of the Royal Society