Ulick Richardson Evans (1889-1980)

Evans was born in Wimbledon and educated at Marlborough College, 1902-1907, and King's College, Cambridge, 1907-1911, where he read for the Natural Sciences Tripos, specializing in chemistry for Part II. He then began research on electrochemistry at Wiesbaden and London which was cut short by the First World War. He served in the army from August 1914 until 1919.

At the end of the war he returned to Cambridge where he spent the rest of his life, researching and writing prolifically on corrosion and oxidation of metals.Ulick Richardson Evans was described in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society as the "Father of the modern science of corrosion and protection of metals". His major contribution to the subject involved placing on a firm foundation the electrochemical nature of corrosion.

His first paper in this area was published in 1923, which was followed in 1924 by his book "Corrosion of Metals", the first text book devoted to the subject. He continued to publish research papers for the next 50 years, as well as updating his classic text.

(to be continued...)